Observations on state primary 2014

The Y chromosome was in short supply among top winners in yesterday's primary.  The result is that party candidates for governor, lieutenant governor, state treasurer, attorney general and, in my home county, district attorney and governor's council, are all women.  (So, too, with unopposed candidates for state auditor, state senator and state representatives.) The women's vote may …

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John Tierney regains his stride

Times have changed for Sixth district Congressman John Tierney, and things are looking good.  This, though he faces a rerun of the 2012 challenge from Republican Richard Tisei and, in the September primary, four challengers within his own party.  Tierney went through a few miserable years, thanks to his wife's legal troubles  (She pled guilty to helping …

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Brown decision could be good for state GOP

A Senate run by Scott Brown would have been a little like Ground Hog Day, and I'm sure his decision not to run for John Kerry's Senate seat was a relief for his ever cheerful, ever campaigning family. If he wants to cash in on his past success, the time to do it is now, not …

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John Tierney: snatching victory from the jaws of defeat

Just as the Boston Herald was unable to sway voters with  obsessively demeaning Elizabeth Warren as an affirmative action princess "Fauxcohontas,"  so too did the Boston Globe fail to run John Tierney out of office, using barrels and barrels of ink to repeat the slimy story alleging Tierney must have known about the money that wife …

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Driven to tears by campaign excesses

I agree with this four-year-old child in Colorado, driven to tears by the election. Politico made public that National Public Radio apologized to this adorable child whose pain I share.  I find I'm repeating to myself the NPR mantra of "only a few more days, only a few more days, only a few more days." I'm sick …

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Kennedy versus Bielat in only televised debate

Fourth congressional district candidates Sean Bielat (R) and Joe Kennedy III (D) finally met in their only televised debate, on Channel 5's On the Record.  It's hard to know how many viewers they had, but it's easy to see how foolish  Joe Kennedy has been in avoiding face-to-face televised debates.  While Kennedy initially came across as young and …

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Tierney v. Tisei: Time to focus on the issues

Last Tuesday, Congressman John Tierney did what he should have done many months ago.  He held a press conference and faced questions about what he knew and when he knew it regarding his brother-in-laws' illegal activities.  For Tierney, there were no new revelations.  Too bad he waited until he was backed against a wall by the two …

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All in the Family: Can Sleazy Aunt Betty and Crooked Brother-in-law Bob wreck a political career?

Life is complicated, and family relationships make it all the more so, especially if you’re in the business of politics. The impact goes both ways, from long-suffering spouses standing bravely by a pol who has done wrong, to the politicians enduring the guilt by association with a ne’er-do-well cousin or in-law. Debbie DiMasi, wife of …

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Redistricting makes Democrats work harder

Incumbent politicians like things just as they are. It’s comfortable. And it affords voters the opportunity to have their representatives build up the kind of seniority in Congress that leads to enhanced power on the national scene. But, as with all games of musical chairs, take away one seat, and change in inevitable.Redistricting jars the …

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Pols and Media confuse the public on new education standards

Question 1: What has shed more heat than light? Select from: a) Massachusetts politicians b) Massachusetts media c) the public debate about replacing Massachusetts testing standards with new national ones. Answer: all of the above.Massachusetts’ education standards and testing achievements, first adopted in the Education Reform Act of 1993, have helped place the Commonwealth at …

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