Massachusetts politics

CommonWealth contributor Dan Kennedy has an unsentimental appreciation in the Guardian on what Sen. Ted Kennedy (no relation) means to residents of Massachusetts, where he’s a lot more than a […]

In the current Boston Phoenix, David Bernstein writes about the lack of dissent (and dissenting votes) in the state House of Representatives as ruled by Speaker Sal DiMasi — who, […]

MassINC is now hosting a reader’s forum on the state budget in Massachusetts and the "point of reckoning" caused by an economic downturn and soaring health care costs. Daniel Winslow, […]

The Boston Globe’s Sean Murphy reports on former Big Dig administrator Michael Lewis, who was able to triple his annual pension to $73,000 as a result of being "fired" by […]

State Rep. Denis Guyer, whose district is about as far away from a subway stop as one can get in Massachusetts, is peeved that MBTA vending machines give change in […]

The Boston Globe is reporting today that Ralph Martin will not run for mayor next year, and the story by Stephanie Ebbert and Sacha Pfeiffer ends with a quote that […]

Governing magazine and the Pew Center for the States give Massachusetts a "C" in their annual Management Report Card. Only New Hampshire and Rhode Island got lower grades for how […]

Ballot Access News reports that only 49 percent of state House seats in Pennsylvania are being contested by both the Democratic and Republican primaries — even though the Democrats control […]

Colorado’s Daily Camera reports that the Boulder City Council is unlikely to pass a resolution calling for Congress to consider the impeachment of President George Bush. Says one councilor: "I […]

Matthew Yglesias summarizes the advantages of a highly partisan political atmosphere. Back in the days of Dixiecrats and Rockefeller Republicans, when many candidates completely disagreed with their own parties’ platforms, […]

As noted in a previous post, Massachusetts state Rep. James Marzilli seems poised to move up to the state Senate seat vacated by Robert Havern earlier this year, which means […]

Boston.com is reporting that George Keverian, once the Speaker of the state House of Representatives and thus one of the most powerful politicians in the state, has been fired from […]

For state Rep. Jim Marzilli, yesterday’s victory in the four-way special election Democratic primary for a vacant state Senate seat couldn’t come a moment too soon.  Though he still must […]

Senior citizens are often regarded as a prized voting bloc because of their reliability in heading to the polls for elections large and small.  Inveterate Cambridge politics watcher Robert Winters […]

The British Telegraph newspaper is in the middle of a weeklong parlor game in which it names the Top 100 liberals and conservatives in America. Today, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick […]

The Washington Post’s E.J. Dionne weighs in on the 5th District race narrowly won by Niki Tsongas: Her victory on Tuesday speaks to the continuing unpopularity of President Bush and […]

The results from the 5th District congressional race are in, and as our map above shows, Democrat Niki Tsongas won by holding the Democratic cities of Lawrence and Lowell, plus […]