After last night's Brown-Warren debate at UMass Lowell, co-sponsored by the Boston Herald, supporters of the two spilled into parking lots outside Tsongas Arena, arguing over which candidate won, but they were agreed that the clear loser was moderator David Gregory. As Dan Kennedy observed, it was "a miserable performance." Gregory spent a third of the time …
Continue reading Corrected post: Brown, Warren debate; Gregory the loser
She listened, she learned, and took a big step forward. For weeks, many sympathetic to Elizabeth Warren’s US Senate candidacy have expressed exasperation at her campaign and her candidate skills. In this, the important first debate against her often affable opponent, incumbent Scott Brown, she more than held her own. Brown, in an overbearing (television …
When Elizabeth Warren walked out on the convention stage last night, smiling and waving, ebullient, she seemed to radiate personality and warmth. That sparkle dissipated when she got into her stump speech, slightly expanded for the occasion. Except for some references to small business owners in Malden, Franklin and Worcester, it was nevertheless a perfect …
A gaffe has been defined as when a politician accidentally tells the truth. Not that the content of Rep. Todd Akin's statement about rape is the truth, but that what he said is what he really thinks. It's obvious. And he's not about to get out of the all-important race against Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri just …
That whoosh you hear is the sound of money, gobs of it, flying from wellheeled donors to political candidates and "independent" committees on behalf of candidates. The roar is increasingly deafening especially when the money is coming from corporations and superPAC's (and, to a lesser extent, labor unions. Corporations, Mitt Romney explains to us, are …
It's the next phase of silly season. U.S. Senate candidates Scott Brown and Elizabeth Warren are to-ing and fro-ing about how often they'll debate one another and in what settings. So far, she has agreed to four televised debates and he, to two televised debates and two radio debates. Included among those she has agreed is one …
In 1978, I was covering Republican U. S. Senator Ed Brooke’s reelection campaign for the Boston Phoenix. Both on primary and election day, I was glued to him. Where he went, I went. Sometimes it was meet-and-greets with people. Sometimes it was consultations with staff. The possibility of defeat hung in the air, but he …
Continue reading With public figures, the personal gestures can unsettle
The Boston Herald drumbeating investigation of Elizabeth Warren’s claim to having Cherokee blood keeps on. In yesterday’s installment, the paper published excerpts from a 1984 cookbook called Pow Wow Chow, edited by Warren’s cousin, who compiled recipes from “Five Tribes families.” The story has gone viral on right wing websites. But so what? The Five …
Continue reading Let’s chuck the Cherokee fixation and deal with today’s challenges
Elizabeth Warren is a stronger candidate than Martha Coakley was in 2010, but Scott Brown is a far better candidate than he was back then. He was in full campaign mode at today’s New England Council luncheon. His message was clear: he knows that many in the room didn’t vote for him in his 2010 …
Continue reading Scott Brown in full campaign mode at New England Council
A new Suffolk University/Channel 7 poll puts Senator Scott Brown nine points ahead of Democratic challenger Elizabeth Brown. But what will be the impact on the Massachusetts electorate of his recent effort to emulate Rick Santorum in the debate about exempting contraception in required health insurance plans? The Obama Administration appeared to have put a …
Continue reading Will the Santorum-i-zation of Scott Brown work in Massachusetts?
Marjorie Arons-Barron 