Polls don’t actually vote. Special elections go sideways sometimes. But barring some cataclysmic shift, Ed Markey has a pretty good shot at becoming the Democratic nominee for US Senate tonight — a designation that would give Markey a pretty good shot at sliding into John Kerry’s old job. There’s a good deal of poetry at work here. Markey’s candidacy has been met with widespread indifference, making him a natural heir to Kerry’s Senate seat.
Both Scott Brown and Elizabeth Warren fit nicely into the Ted Kennedy Memorial People’s Seat. Warren, and Brown before her, cut the kind of national figures that Kennedy did. Both rode populist passions into office. Warren, like Kennedy, is showing a knack for turning populism into a brand of politics that reaches far beyond her own state’s borders.
If Markey’s campaign is any indication, he’s uniquely well suited to slide into Kerry’s seat. That last sentence probably only sounds like a compliment to Markey and Kerry’s few partisans. John Kerry was a perfectly passable senator. Even if he did spend his last decade in office eyeing the exits, Kerry meant well. He did fine. These qualities are in surprisingly short supply in today’s Senate. But Kerry was no Kennedy, just as Markey is no Warren.
Markey votes the way his liberal base wants him to vote, but he doesn’t inspire the kind of fierce devotion some other pols do. Like Kerry before him, Markey is far more tolerated than he is beloved. He’s run a lackadaisical campaign that only exacerbates this dynamic.
A steady stream of recent commentary has decried the current Senate special election for being basically terrible, and also uninspiring. Secretary of State Bill Galvin expects fewer voters to bother showing up today than did in the dead of winter in 2009’s special Senate primary. This is by design.
Markey never set out to win over the large chunks of the state he doesn’t currently represent in Congress. Instead, he set out to smother the electorate into submission. That’s why he lined up party heavies when he initially threw in for the seat, hoping to clear the field and win the nomination by default, and why he’s been so surprised by the prospect of actually having to defend his voting record. The most memorable line from the whole miserable campaign wasn’t something Markey uttered himself — it was Herald columnist Peter Gelzinis’s description of Markey as “a kind of elegant stranger.” And now, to the shrugging of the many, when the votes are tallied tonight he’ll likely be one step closer to becoming Senator Elegant Stranger.
–PAUL MCMORROW
MARATHON BOMBINGS
The Globe reports that a broad investigation is underway to examine the federal government’s handling of intelligence information in the run-up to the Boston Marathon bombings.
A new poll finds strong support for the shutdown of Boston during the hunt for the Marathon bombers.
After a man is arrested for allegedly joking about a bomb on a Martha’s Vineyard-bound ferry, The Cape Cod Times looks into ferry security and finds it lacking.
Boston Mayor Tom Menino wants to keep individuals on the terror watch list from buying guns.
BEACON HILL
A new study indicates a crackdown on auto insurance fraud has saved drivers across the state $875 million over the last decade, with Lawrence drivers collectively saving $68 million, the Eagle-Tribune reports.
MUNICIPAL MATTERS
The Boston Globe and the Springfield Republican’s Masslive.com are reporting that Springfield Mayor Dominic Sarno is announcing today that he is choosing MGM Resorts International over Penn National Gaming to build a casino in the city. CommonWealth reported in its spring issue that the battle for a Springfield casino pitted two brothers against each other. The Springfield contender still faces competition from two other western Massachusetts casino operators.
A fire in an Allston house that may have been operating as an illegal rooming house claims the life of a Boston University student, the 11th BU student to die in 13 months.
Lynn Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy vetoed a proposed ordinance requiring mortgage holders to enter into mediation with homeowners facing foreclosure. The City Council, which passed the ordinance unanimously, is threatening to override her veto, the Item reports.
The state has upheld Quincy’s rejection of a chain restaurant opening downtown because the pub, which features buxom waitresses in skimpy outfits, would have been too close to a Catholic church and would be “detrimental to the spiritual activities of the church.”
A school bus in Newton is involved in a three-way crash, sending many of the students to area hospitals, NECN reports.
Nearly four months after being chosen for the post, former state rep David Sullivan finally took over as head of the Fall River Housing Authority despite qualms about his qualifications and his contract.
NATIONAL POLITICS/WASHINGTON
Out and about: In a first-person account in Sports Illustrated, NBA player Jason Collins, who played for the Boston Celtics the first half of this season before being traded, became the first active player in a major American sport to announce he is gay. US Rep. Joseph Kennedy III was not shocked about his former college roommate’s decision to come out. The Red Sox invite him to a game to throw out the first pitch.
The Supreme Court tosses an Alabama law that made it a crime to harbor or transport illegal immigrants. The New York Times dives into the immigration-related split between Sens. Jim DeMint and Marco Rubio.
FBI agents are investigating the relationship between Virginia Gov. Robert McDonnell, his wife, and the CEO of Star Scientific Corp., the Washington Post reports.
Sparks fly in the only debate between South Carolina congressional candidates Elizabeth Colbert Busch, the Democrat, and Mark Sanford, the Republican, the Daily Beast reports.
Colorado becomes the 14th state to offer in-state tuition rates to undocumented immigrants, the Huffington Post reports.
ELECTIONS
It’s primary day in the special election for US Senate and in the state Senate district covering South Boston, Dorchester, Mattapan and a slice of Hyde Park.
Joe Battenfeld talks up Gabriel Gomez, describing the newbie politician as being “despised by conservatives” but “feared by Democrats.”
Voters showing up to Boston polling places may be outnumbered by hordes of clipboard-toting volunteers who are expected to descend in droves to collect nominating signatures for would-be mayoral candidates.
BUSINESS/ECONOMY
Tobacco farmers are trading the flammable crop for chickpeas, amid booming demand for hummus.
EDUCATION
UMass Dartmouth faculty are seeking a louder voice in school operations in the wake of fiscal and organizational challenges facing the school.
Mount Wachusett Community College aims to be the first community college in the state to have dorms available for students.
Two Middleboro parents are being charged with embezzling $30,000 from the PTA over a four-year period. Police and school officials did not identify the parents or say if they were from the same household.
Spending on pre-K programs drops in states around the country.
HEALTH CARE
ESPN has a long and fascinating investigative piece about the fight among researchers, including those at Boston University, to study the brain of NFL legend Junior Seau, the Hall of Fame linebacker and former New England Patriot who committed suicide last year.
The White House has given recognition to Quincy police for a groundbreaking program that has placed the overdose-reversing drug Narcan in every cruiser and trained all officers to administer it.
ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT
A small pod of endangered right whales have been spotted feeding just several hundred yards off the beach at Plymouth’s Manomet Point.
West Bridgewater is the latest community to explore a right-to-farm bylaw, which would make the town eligible for more state agriculture grants and give it control over local farming issues once regulated by the state.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Whitey Bulger’s defense team may have succeeded in getting the judge originally assigned to the mobster’s trial bounced from the case, but the replacement jurist is showing no signs of being any friendlier. US District Judge Denise Casper, in her first significant ruling in the case, denied Bulger’s request for the name of a confidential FBI informant involved in his case.