There are some real differences between Republican and Democratic candidates for governor as well as for the North Shore congressional seat held by longtime incumbent John Tierney. Abortion rights, gay marriage, and the wisdom of wacky Tea Party positions, however, are not really among them.

You could be forgiven for thinking these are defining issues in the races, given the zeal with which Democrats are zeroing in on these topics.

In fairness, state Republicans handed their opponents great material by adopting planks last week in the state party platform that were pushed by opponents of abortion rights and gay marriage. On abortion, the platform read, “We affirm the inherent dignity and sanctity of human life. We believe that every instance of abortion is tragic. We advocate policies that will assist a woman during a crisis pregnancy.”

Democratic gubernatorial front-runner Martha Coakley wasted no time in pouncing on the move, calling it part of a “rush to the right-wing extremes” that the state GOP has been on under the leadership of Charlie Baker, the party’s presumed nominee for governor.

In yesterday’s Globe, however, columnist Joan Vennochi asked, “What’s so extreme about using the word ‘tragic’ to describe abortion?” Vennochi says pro-choice Hillary Clinton used very similar language in 2005 as she geared up for a presidential run and wanted to reach out to voters in the middle.” Her core supporters may have found it calculating, but they didn’t consider it ‘a major step backward for women’s rights and equality,'” wrote Vennochi, quoting from a fundraising email Coakley sent out after last week’s GOP platform move.

What’s more, Baker, the presumed Republican gubernatorial nominee, has never wavered from his stands in favor of abortion rights and gay marriage, notwithstanding the rightward tilt the GOP state committee has taken.

Meanwhile, in a rematch of his 2012 race against Republican Richard Tisei, US Rep. John Tierney is not exactly pointing to high-minded policy differences that separate them. Instead, in a flurry of fundraising emails, the Salem Democrat is basically saying he is trying to fight off a crazed Republican who is straight out of the Tea Party looney bin. The shoe doesn’t exactly fit Tisei, an openly gay, moderate former Republican state senator.  But no matter.

There is always room in campaigns for each side to characterize the other. The question  is whether a candidate can succeed in defining his opponent (in an unflattering way) or whether the caricature runs too far from reality and backfires. The fact that Tierney is so bent on framing the race this way suggests a recognition that he might just be vulnerable to a moderate Republican challenger, which is more or less what his opponent is.

–MICHAEL JONAS    

BEACON HILL

The Essex Park Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Beverly asks its supporters for donations that can be bundled as contributions for House Speaker Robert DeLeo. The center is fighting against Medicaid cuts, the Salem News reports.

You would think that making voting more convenient would increase voter participation, but WBUR’s David Scharfenberg says the research indicates otherwise.

The state Commission on Illegal Tobacco urges a get tough policy on sales in Massachusetts of cigarettes from states with lower tax rates, a “dumb” policy that one commentator had predicted.

As the medical marijuana process continues to unravel, The Berkshire Eagle joins the push for a do-over. Boston Mayor Marty Walsh wants state regulators to reconsider the locations of two city dispensaries.

The Herald welcomes the report of the Legislature’s Tax Fairness Commission with a Taxachusetts comparison. CommonWealth‘s Spring 2013 issue found that Taxachusetts has been gone for decades.

MUNICIPAL MATTERS

City unions file two grievances over Lawrence Mayor Daniel Rivera’s new policies requiring male employees to wear neckties and to not park outside city hall, the Eagle-Tribune reports. Rivera disclosed the necktie policy earlier with CommonWealth.

A review by the Brockton Enterprise finds that, of the 27 public employees in Whitman who earn more than $100,000, only one is a woman, the town’s former police chief who came in at 26th on the list.

Observers say the relationship between the Brockton City Council and new mayor William Carpenter, who filed suit against the council to block an appointment, is “toxic.”

New documents show Attleboro‘s redevelopment authority could have settled with a pair of fired employees for $30,000; instead, it fought the employees’ Civil Service complaint and lost, and is now on the hook for at least $500,000.

ELECTIONS

Salem Police Chief Paul Tucker plans to run for state rep while continuing to serve as chief, the Salem News reports.

It’s a door-to-door five-way battle for votes in Tuesday’s special election primary to fill the Dorchester House seat vacated by Marty Walsh when he became mayor.

John Nucci says Martha Coakley‘s 2010 Senate loss to Scott Brown “could not be more irrelevant” in the gubernatorial contest.

Slatepitch: Rand Paul is overrated. Meanwhile, Joe Biden wants somebody to bet on Joe Biden in 2016.

Democrats try to bring white men back into the fold.

BUSINESS/ECONOMY

Warren Buffett says Berkshire Hathaway lost more than $800 million on its investment in Energy Future Holdings, but he now says the energy company most likely will go bankrupt unless natural gas prices soar, Businessweek reports.

Next City  asks why cities, even bankrupt Detroit, can’t give up on throwing public funds at sports stadiums.

Please welcome the internet-ready toothbrush.

After North Carolina slashed long-term unemployment benefits, skilled workers settled for lower-skilled jobs, while scores of workers dropped out of the labor force.

TECHNOLOGY

A computer-driven headband may be able to determine how well you’re thinking, and help you perform better or push off high-pressure tasks — like controlling aircraft — to someone thinking better at that moment.

EDUCATION

Seton Academy in Fall River, a former all-girls Catholic school that allowed boys to enter last year because of declining enrollment, will close its doors in June.

Some families and public school leaders are expressing concerns about cutbacks forcing Boston 7th and 8th graders to get to school on the MBTA rather on school buses.

New Orleans students’ performance continues to improve in its nearly all-charter school district.

HEALTH CARE

Mothers are sharing the pain of losing children to opiate overdoses, which is often compounded by the shunning they experience.

ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT

The EPA will require oil refiners to strip sulfur out of gasoline.

Manufacturers and sellers of wood-burning stoves are worried new EPA regulations on particulate emissions of the stoves, which are higher than oil and gas, will drastically reduce their business.

The Patriot Ledger chronicles the three-decade cleanup — with another 20 to 30 years to go — of the former Baird & McGuire chemical plant in Holbrook, at one time one of the nation’s worst superfund sites.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE

A Globe editorial says Southeastern Massachusetts fire chiefs are right to be angry over the relatively light sentence handed down recently to two convicted arsonists.

Fitchburg police highlight gaps in the state’s firearms records.

MEDIA

The Beat The Press panel bids a fond farewell to longtime WCVB consumer reporter and news anchor Susan Wornick, who signed off the air Friday.

Matt Yglesias leaves Slate with a meditation on where burritos stand in the post-robot economy, and a greatest-hits collection.