The one election result that shocked me last night was the 65 percent approval of decriminalizing marijuana in Massachusetts. I hadn’t anticipated the overwhelming support for the proposal in the affluent “Shopper’s World” suburbs west of Boston. The pro-pot vote was almost 3-to-1 in places like Lincoln and Newton. (Meanwhile, the crime-ravaged and high-poverty city of Lawrence was one of the few communities to vote no.)

I’m now revising my view of the 2006 statewide vote against allowing more supermarkets to sell wine. At the time, the defeat was attributed to fears about underage drinking, more drunk driving, etc. — and in particular to the opposition to the proposal from several police chiefs in the state. It seemed like a reaffirmation of the Bay State’s lingering Puritan tendencies. Now I’m wondering if a large number of liberal voters really did vote no in order to protect independent wine shops from chain-store competition.