T.S. Eliot wrote that “time future [is] contained in time past.” That observation may haunt the Martha Coakley campaign as it enters the general election having led in the polls […]
Elections
Posted inOpinion, Politics
Coakley’s bad optics
Politics is a math equation. Rival candidates tally their votes, and the one with the most votes emerges. The math is cold. It’s dispassionate. But beneath the math, there’s perception. […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
Machine breakdown
Campaigns are living, breathing things. They take on a life of their own, with their own rhythm and momentum, a momentum that can’t be easily thrown off by outside forces. […]
Posted inPolitics
Final sprint
Leaving it all on the field “Hello, Marty? It’s Steve Grossman. Listen, Marty, I need you to look at something…” Steve Grossman is four days away from what could be […]
Posted inPolitics
Republican Super PAC Follows Obama Strategy on TV Buys
Political campaigns usually save their heaviest television spending for the tail end of a campaign. They save their powder because political advertising is expensive, and because academic researchers haven’t found […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
Endorsements don’t always translate to votes
If endorsements reflected a candidate’s standing among voters, Steve Grossman would be sitting pretty just days from the September 9 primary for governor. Instead, he finds himself trailing Democratic front-runner […]
Posted inPolitics
Baker’s demographic dilemma
Charlie Baker’s first run at the governor’s office was marked by an enormous 24-point loss among women. Since Baker’s 2010 loss, strong showings with women provided Massachusetts Democrats with decisive […]
Posted inPolitics
Patrick endorses Tolman in AG primary
Gov. Deval Patrick waded into the tightest race on the Democratic primary ballot on Thursday by endorsing a political insider instead of a fresh-face newcomer whose run for office is […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
Grossman and Berwick target Coakley at debate
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE Democrat Martha Coakley, with just one full week of campaigning left before the primary election, is attempting to do what she could not in her 2010 […]
Posted inPolitics
Dems gearing up for ground game
A hard sprint still stands between the three Democrats who would be governor, and September’s gubernatorial primary. But all summer, as Martha Coakley, Steve Grossman, and Don Berwick have crisscrossed […]
Posted inPolitics, The Back Story
MA political fundraising plummets
The outside super PAC money now pouring into the Massachusetts governor’s race is only half of a rapidly changing equation behind how state elections are financed. The recent rise in […]
Posted inPolitics
Super PAC supporting Grossman is bankrolled by… his mother
Steve Grossman, call your mother. Wait, no, better not. It could be legally risky if the conversation veers toward a certain random topic, like, say, the fact that you are […]
Posted inPolitics
McCormick is a threat to Baker’s candidacy
Charlie Baker is a businessman who wants to be governor of Massachusetts. His pitch largely revolves around jobs, education, and his private-sector experience. Jeff McCormick is also a businessman who […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Dark money unlikely to brighten Grossman’s odds
Cue the dark-money attack ad sliming the candidate in the lead. Cue the counter ad from the attack target calling out the candidate the attack ad is fronting for as […]
Posted inPolitics
Coakley spinning her wheels
A new Boston Globe poll has Martha Coakley locked in a statistical dead heat with Charlie Baker, the presumptive Republican nominee for governor. Coakley’s lead in a matchup against Baker […]
Posted inPolitics
Not exactly party time in Massachusetts
political parties in Massachusetts are approaching a crossroads, as fewer new registrants choose to affiliate with either party and the number of unenrolled voters climbs to historic highs. Since 1978, […]
Posted inPolitics
Independents practice very different politics
CommonWealth editor Bruce Mohl with gubernatorial candidates (from left) Scott Lively, Evan Falchuk, and Jeff McCormick. The three independent candidates running for governor said on Friday that their candidacies are […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
A tough day for Coakley
Attorney General Martha Coakley is the frontrunner in all the gubernatorial polls, but on Tuesday she took a beating on two issues that are likely to figure prominently in the […]
Posted inPolitics, The Back Story
PACs and caps
A campaign finance package the Legislature advanced Wednesday afternoon would double the state’s limits on contributions to political candidates. The change would allow candidates to accept $1,000 checks from donors, […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Coakley, Grossman play Whack-a-PAC
The three Democratic gubernatorial hopefuls who emerged from this weekend’s state convention came together Monday evening in a sharp clash over campaign finance. The sparks flying between Attorney General Martha […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Dem state convention produces few winners
The Democratic State Convention in Worcester this weekend proved Will Rogers’s point when he said, “I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat.” Most […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Scott Brown’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week
Once upon a time, Scott Brown was riding high. He rocketed from backbencher within a Massachusetts state Senate Republican caucus that could convene in a phone booth to national political […]
Posted inPolitics, The Back Story
Fisher is a plus for Baker
Halfway through a forum this week featuring Republican gubernatorial candidates Charlie Baker and Mark Fisher, I began to wonder why GOP officials fought so hard at their state convention to […]
