At first, Mitt Romney’s recent campaign stop in Philadelphia was a head-scratcher. A group of residents gave him a rousing Philly “welcome,” while Mayor Michael Nutter could only wonder at […]
National Politics
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, The Download
You say you want an evolution
President Obama’s pronouncement that he supports gay marriage is a seismic shift in the presidential campaign, though it’s little more than a talking point here in Massachusetts, the first state […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
Does religion matter in the Brown-Warren race?
When the debate over the Blunt Amendment was underway, I received a number of calls from reporters looking for any insight on how the Massachusetts Senate race might be breaking […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
John Kerry’s ambitious dilemma
Today’s Boston Herald bats around the case of John Kerry, who is a politician from Massachusetts. Specifically, the paper adds to a mountain of news clips speculating about Kerry’s desire […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Mitt Romney’s faulty gaydar
Mitt Romney has gotten himself into another fine mess, this time with his inability to stand up to the anti-gay wing of the Republican Party. Romney got props for his […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Bipartisan blues
The right-wing remaking of the Republican Party continues apace, and Indiana is the next battlefront in this internecine GOP war. That’s where veteran Republican US senator Richard Lugar faces a […]
Posted inPolitics
Political repurposing
two weeks after his inauguration, President Obama invited supporters of his 2008 campaign to the White House to lay out his plan for a Middle Class Task Force. The idea […]
Posted inHealth Care, Politics, The Download, Transportation
Polling for dollars
It’s hardly a groundswell of support, but based on the expectation of paltry support for an infusion of state money to bail out the beleaguered MBTA, a new Boston Globe […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Two cheers for Obamacare
Yesterday, Rick Santorum stood on the steps of the Supreme Court and said November’s presidential election will hinge on health care. John Kerry agreed. He told the Herald he’s daring […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
The dangerous (and dumb) Scott Brown
Scott Brown is a dangerous man: dangerous to the world view of Massachusetts Democrats. The way things are supposed to work around here is we have a Democratic Party primary […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, State House News Service, The Download
Where the Pentagon sees guns, Mass. sees butter
With Gov. Deval Patrick gone AWOL more and more, Lt. Gov. Tim Murray has been tapped to lead the fight to forestall cutbacks at Bay State military facilities. So far, […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Worries about Warren
A new Western New England University poll has Sen. Scott Brown rocketing past Elizabeth Warren, and that has some Democrats sizing up the distance between the window ledge and the […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Snowe storm
If Americans needed yet more evidence that Congress has been taken over the political equivalent of the walking dead, there is now the case of US Sen. Olympia Snowe. The […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Newt Gingrich declares war on reVolting electric cars
The next stop in the culture wars is the electric car. Newt Gingrich has declared that President Obama now threatens Americans’ right to choose the type of car that they […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Romney: A Michigander or Michi-gamer?
Mitt Romney wants to be president, so he needs to win next week’s Michigan primary. A big part of the game plan for pulling that feat off involves reinforcing Romney’s […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Romney’s mythical Latino support
The national mainstream media likes its narratives neat and tidy. How else to explain Mitt Romney racking up big numbers among Latinos in Florida? The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza falls […]
Posted inEnvironment, Politics, The Download
Drill, baby, drill
President Obama made it official this week: The United States is awash in natural gas. “We have a supply of natural gas that can last America nearly 100 years,” Obama […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Political goals, touchdowns, and dunks
This week hundreds of reporters from around the country will try to get Tom Brady, Eli Manning, or any number of their teammates to say something beyond the canned observations […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
No more Mr. Nice President
Nothing sobers up a president faster than the real prospect of losing a re-election battle. For the past three years, President Obama’s critics on the left have chided him for […]
Posted inPolitics
An outside-the-Beltway strategy
most washington advocacy groups are based in Washington on the theory that it’s easier to influence the federal government from the capital itself. But Free Press, an up-and-coming advocacy group […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Camelot comeback?
There’s nothing like the Kennedy name to change the dynamics of a political contest in Massachusetts, especially at a time when the name is missing from congressional roll calls for […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Mitt’s milddling moment
One of two things will happen tonight in Iowa. Mitt Romney might slide backwards into a win in a state he’d initially written off as a nonstarter, thus confirming his […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
Checking the elephant for a pulse
Here in Massachusetts we have a sort-of democracy in which the Democratic Party wins most of the elections and the Republican Party contends only for the governorship or the rare […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
The Romney roller coaster
Two weeks ago, this very space noted the odd timing of a New York Times Magazine story that marveled at Mitt Romney’s remarkable staying power, given the fact that, between […]