IN MICHAEL DUKAKIS’S hometown, a place that delivered 88 percent of its vote to Joe Biden two years ago, it’s not a question of whether to elect a left-leaning Democrat as state representative, but what kind of liberal lawmaker to send to Beacon Hill. That has become the overarching issue in the Democratic primary showdown […]
Joe Kennedy
Posted inPolitics
Angela Menino throws support behind Kennedy
GUSHING REVERENTIALLY ABOUT Boston’s longest serving mayor apparently only gets you so far. Eight days after Sen. Ed Markey said the vandalized statue of Christopher Columbus in a North End park should be replaced with a statue of Boston’s first — and so far only — Italian-American mayor, Tom Menino, the late mayor’s wife threw […]
Posted inPolitics
Markey’s remarkable reinvention
NEARLY EVERYONE AGREES that when Joe Kennedy launched his primary challenge nearly a year ago to Sen. Ed Markey, the son of the state’s most storied political family looked like a good bet to oust the veteran Malden pol. A lot can change in a year, and it has. With the primary a week away, […]
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The content of their character
MICHELLE OBAMA’S BLISTERING takedown of Donald Trump during the opening night of the Democratic National Convention on Monday was noteworthy because she largely steered clear of the president’s policy record and focused instead on the character of a man she deemed wholly unfit for office. In an odd parallel, the same issue-free attacks on character […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Markey, Kennedy visit jail, address criminal justice concerns
BY THE TIME someone gets to jail, in many cases, there are myriad societal problems that led them there – and those need to be addressed. That was the premise voiced by US Sen. Ed Markey and his challenger in the Democratic primary for Senate, US Rep. Joe Kennedy, in back-to-back question and answer sessions […]
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Sparks fly in Markey-Kennedy debate
IT’S BEEN HARD to find much daylight on issues between Ed Markey and Joe Kennedy as the liberal lawmakers match each other measure for measure on one progressive platitude after another. But give them credit for trying. Taking swings that amounted more to wild flailing than surgical strikes, the Democratic primary contenders for US Senate […]
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Markey and Kennedy mix it up in Senate debate
SEN. ED MARKEY and Rep. Joe Kennedy tangled in their first debate since the coronavirus pandemic sidelined their US Senate campaign, with Markey pointing to a long record of accomplishments and Kennedy charging that he’s failed to show the leadership needed in the seat, especially at the moment of crisis now being faced. The hour-long […]
Posted inPolitics
Pandemic turns Markey-Kennedy race into virtual showdown
THE US SENATE race between Ed Markey and Joe Kennedy, which was shaping up to be one of the most closely watched congressional primary contests in the country, now faces a much different challenge: How do candidates draw attention when the glad-handing, town parades, and speech-making that are the lifeblood of normal campaigns have had […]
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Senate candidates differ somewhat on filibuster
THE THREE DEMOCRATIC contenders for US Senate may not differ significantly on most major issues, but on the practical question of how to accomplish their legislative goals there is some daylight between them. Rep. Joe Kennedy III and labor attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan favor doing away with the requirement that 60 votes are needed to end […]
Posted inPolitics
Kennedy still struggling to frame Senate run
WITH THE TOUGH decision to give up his House seat and challenge an incumbent Democratic senator behind him, Joe Kennedy now faces an equally tough question: Why is he running? The scion of America’s first family of politics is still struggling to frame a succinct answer. “Because our system is broken,” he said at the […]