It’s been a generation or two since the GOP in Massachusetts – the so-called Saltonstall, Sargent, and Lodge Republicans who would now be termed RINOs on the national stage – was more than an afterthought in state politics.

Sure, there’s been the Edward Brookes, Silvio Contes, and Margaret Hecklers sprinkled in with the lightning bolts of the Peters Blute and Torkildsen, more tolerated than embraced by the Democratic-dominated congressional delegation. And from 1965 to 2007, Republicans owned the governor’s office with the exception of Michael Dukakis (are we really going to count Ed King as a Democrat?) But what does it say that we can sum up the party’s success over the last 40 or so years with a handful of names that easily roll off the tongue?

Unlike the national party, a Republican who runs to the right has little chance in Massachusetts. You’d have to be tone-deaf not to hear the voters’ rejection of rigid right-wing ideologues who embrace both fiscally and socially conservative stances. Which is why some of those who are likely to be the party’s standard-bearers this fall want little to do with this weekend’s Republican State Convention.

Richard Tisei , who lost his fight with US Rep. John Tierney in 2012 despite all indications he had victory in sight, has announced he’ll boycott the convention in protest of the platform adopted by committee members that harkens back to the old culture wars with a pro-life, anti-gay marriage foundation. In Massachusetts, most voters either consider those settled arguments or very low on the priority totem pole.

At the Boston Herald, increasingly conservative columnist Joe Battenfeld is counseling Charlie Baker to skip the convention, noting “Nine out of 10 voters in Massachusetts have chosen not to be Republicans.”

The party establishment is putting on a brave face, saying they think this is their best chance in years to wrest some control back on Beacon Hill. But you wouldn’t know it by some of their positions. It recalls the 1990 Republican Convention in Boston when a battered Democratic Party tied closely with the increasingly unpopular Dukakis looked ripe for the plucking. But convention-goers damn near shot themselves in the foot by giving the nod to the less-than moderate Steven Pierce, then the House minority leader, and his presumed running mate, Torkildsen, both of whom came from the socially conservative wing of the party that was beginning to take over at the national level. Voters in the fall, though, rejected the move, opting for the more socially progressive but fiscally austere offerings of William Weld and Paul Cellucci.

Since that time, outside of the corner office, it’s been a matter of shoveling sand against the tide for Republican candidates for state and federal offices. Tisei, a gay, pro-choice Republican, was so confident he had the race won that in the final days of the campaign, he chose to run a TV ad of a Gloucester beach with the crashing tide and a seagull call the only sound. The ad got raves from voters tired of attacks. Tisei lost by 1 percentage point, 48-47, with an independent candidate picking up the rest. Mindful of that, Tisei is doing everything not to remind voters he’s a Republican and this weekend’s convention can’t help.

Same goes for former senator Scott Brown. While some point to Brown’s stunning upset in 2010, it came in a special election with low-turnout in the middle of winter. Given a real race, Brown never stood a chance and has now moved his ambitions to the more friendly confines of New Hampshire. But, as Scot Lehigh points out, the electorate in the Granite State is no more reflective of the national party than their neighbors to the south and incumbent Sen. Jeanne Shaheen is pulling out all the stops from the Elizabeth Warren playbook to tie the GOP ball and chain around Brown’s neck.

A RINO may be a slur on the national stage but here in the Northeast, getting splattered with the Republican name still requires some scrubbing to get the stain out.

–JACK SULLIVAN  

BEACON HILL

The House details its plan for raising the minimum wage and freezing unemployment insurance rates, State House News reports.

The Trial Court has frozen new probation and court officer hiring because it hasn’t implemented a mandatory written test for new hires.

The Pioneer Institute puts the tab for the state’s faulty Health Connector website at $90 million.

GAMBLING

The state gambling commission agrees to convene a hearing in two weeks to hear Mayor Marty Walsh’s call for Boston to be declared a “host community” for casino proposals in neighboring Revere and Everett. John Nucci praises Walsh’s handling of the casino proposals.

Revisiting a provision of the state gaming law dealing with tax withholding is gaining traction as Gaming Commission chairman Stephen Crosby calls for changes, CommonWealth reports.

MUNICIPAL MATTERS

Methuen tears down a dilapidated former dry cleaner building, part of a broader effort to get run-down buildings up to code and remove damaged, vacant structures, the Eagle-Tribune reports.

Only one of the two Hanson selectmen being targeted by opponents of building a new elementary school is eligible to be recalled because the law bans the recall of an official within six months of his election.

Haverhill agrees to give the police chief and superior officers at 10.5 percent pay raise over the next four years; the contract allows the city to test officers for drugs and install GPS devices in cruisers, the Eagle-Tribune reports.

NATIONAL POLITICS/WASHINGTON

The Atlantic details the failure of the gay marriage backlash.

The Koch brothers embrace data analytics to bring down public sentiment about government.

ELECTIONS

President Obama voices support for US Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and urges Scott Brown to move to Texas to campaign as a moderate Republican. Brown urges Obama to come to New Hampshire to campaign with Shaheen on his top issue, Obamacare, NECN reports. The Globe says a Shaheen-Brown match-up could draw a deluge of outside spending as Brown rejects the idea of a “People’s Pledge.” Scot Lehigh writes that Brown can change states but seems less likely to change his state of mind, which Lehigh pegs as fairly shallow.

A new WBUR/MassINC Polling Group survey finds that Attorney General Martha Coakley continues to enjoy a wide lead in the five-way Democratic primary for governor and in a match-up against likely Republican nominee Charlie Baker.

Steward Health ‘s CEO and employees are showing Coakley a lot of campaign-donation love, says Shirley Leung.

Peter Gelzinis spotlights Evandro Carvalho, one of the five candidates running for Carlos Henriquez‘s old House seat.

Congressional Democrats’ midterm strategy relies heavily on presidential fundraising, appeals to the base, and women.

BUSINESS/ECONOMY

Wages look bleak for most American workers.

EDUCATION

After 10 years in existence, the Salem Academy Charter School is preparing to build a gym, auditorium, and additional classroom space, the Salem News reports. A new charter school in Holyoke features a social justice curriculum, WBUR reports.

HEALTH CARE

One of the main architects of the Affordable Care Act predicts that the law will sharply reduce employer-sponsored health plans, and sees this movement as a benefit.

TRANSPORTATION

Massport plans to raise parking fees at Logan Airport.

MassDOT advances plans to potentially pair the Sagamore Bridge with a second bridge run as a public-private partnership.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE

Overdoses plagued the Drug Court at Plymouth District Court over the last two weeks. One woman died of a drug overdose while a man who reported for jury service was saved by a fellow juror who had Narcan, the overdose-reversing drug, in her purse.

In a wide-ranging interview with the Item, Essex County District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett voices his opposition to medical marijuana and raises concerns about a casino.

MEDIA

Jeffrey Pyle , a Boston lawyer specializing in First Amendment and media issues, uses Dan Kennedy‘s blog to weigh in on this week’s libel award against the Boston Herald and concludes the jury appears to be right in its verdict.

Turkey’s prime minister vows to eradicate Twitter in his country, although he later seems to soften that stance, NPR reports.

Netflix blasts Comcast and Verizon on net neutrality.

How should news outlets, particularly nonprofit ones, measure a story’s impact?

For what it’s worth, the New York Times obituary for anti-gay minister Fred Phelps employs the honorific “Mr. Phelps,” putting the founder of the Westboro Baptist Church a rung above bin Laden.