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Should Menino run for Senate in 2012?


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On the one hand we have the guy responsible for the disaster which is the BRA.

On the other we have the guy which 99% of the time the rest of the country can't understand a damn thing he says (honestly he sounds like the CAPTCHA below read aloud), so he'd be the ultimate 'stealth' senator for getting stuff done.

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Menino is an embarrassment. If he was not given the job and able to hand out all his favors before having to face the voters he;d never be mayor. They guy is dirty and represents an old stereotype of Boston that I'd rather not have to revisit, especially on a national scale.

Sadly if he sneaks into the job, like he did Mayor, he's effectively corrupt enough (he knows and lives the 11th commandment) that we'd never be able to get rid of him.

Can we just let Capuano take down Brown the way we should have this past time? He can do the job better, represent the state better, and I trust him more.

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Capuano isn't going anywhere given his performance against C(h)oakley. This state is better off with split party senators. It's hard for one party or the other to shaft the state for funds over some partisan issue when they both have members sitting in a senate seat. The question that needs to be asked is when should Kerry be replaced and with whom? I kind of think Bryon Rushing would be a good fit, but that's just me.

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Haviland, I love how you comment on topics it's clear you've paid no attention to. Capuano trounced Coakley in the debates, put his experience and leadership at the fore of the conversation and steered clear of the machine once it gave Martha the nod. Capuano lost the race he needed to lose and now looks all the stronger for it. All he has to do is play that "I don't have money in any of your banks" clip from the banking hearings ad infinitum and he'll undercut Brown's key position. As for Kerry, when he stops bringing it home for Massachusetts and fortifying its position in the committees, we'll stop voting for him. Feel free to let his tub toys let push you toward a foolish push for Rushing... who's far too progressive to succeed statewide.

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In case you weren't paying attention Capuano got trounced in the primary. His debate performance didn't matter much at the ballot box. And if you think Kerry is bringing home the bacon, you are clueless. He rode on Teddy's coat tails all these years and if weren't for former members of Teddy's staff holding his hand at every turn he wouldn't have a clue how the Hell to do his job.

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Senate is a statewide office. He has a small enough district that he can play all the "Representative from Somerville" games all he wants as a US Rep. There is no Senator from Somerville. I like the guy, but he seemed not to fundamentally get that being a senator isn't about yammering about how unfair it is that state and federal money come with strings that cities and towns don't decide, and that playing his pandering cards and ignoring that the rest of the commonwealth isn't like his city or his representative district cost him bigtime.

Menino would be 100X as clueless - the guy can't even work with neighboring communities to put together a decent transportation plan. He thinks that a regional outlook is for competition, not collaboration on problems of regional origin. Like he even knows the rest of the state exists outside his TINY city?

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and Menino presents exactly the opposite impression when he speaks.

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But don't judge a book by its mouth ...

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Just think of it, Sean Hannity, Palin, and Goober Huckaby on FOX, trying to figure out just what the Hell the junior Senator from Massachusetts just said about Obama-Care...

That alone is worth the price of admission. He has my vote.

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Hell No!

Do the really want a Coakley 2012 all over again? Menino isn't the answer, and is strongly polarizing anywhere outside of Boston.

Dems really are stupid if they think he has a chance in hell at winning that seat. Let's put forth a viable candidate instead of another anointee.

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The myth of the resurgent "Menino machine" is getting way out of hand. And now this- lunacy!
The Globe wants everyone to believe that Tuesday's victory for Deval Patrick was actually a victory for Tom Menino??!! Give me a freaking break. Deval was going to win Boston with 70 percent no matter what Tom Menino did or didn't do on Nov. 2. And the big vote totals Patrick received Tuesday was a testament to a brilliant field operation manned by a coalition of orgs, unions, electeds (including Menino). Give Patrick the candidate some credit. And the people of Mattapan, Dorchester and Roxbury who ran up the score. They didn't need any convincing from team Menino.

Let's not forget that if Tom Menino had his way in '06 and '08, we'd have Gov. Tom Reilly and Pres. Hillary Clinton. He did NOT support either Patrick or Obama the first go-round and they won handily in the city of Boston b/c of communities of color. The Menino machine got its clock cleaned in both.

This year, the Menino "machine" got trounced in September in the South Boston rep's race and now all of a sudden it's roaring back b/c Deval Patrick won Boston huge? GTF out of here! You want to impress us, Tommy and Mike: Win a precinct in Southie someday. Run up the score in Neponset or Charlestown. For Menino or his Globe lackeys to paint this as a vindication of his machinery is the height of delusion and hubris. Tommuy had his win last year. Let the governor have his.

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This is probably a good time to remind everyone that there is more to Massachusetts than what's inside 495 (or, for that matter, what is inside what would have been the inner belt).

There is no way that Menino could win a statewide election. Hell, he couldn't win an election held for just the communities mostly inside 128.

If you're talking about mayors as candidates for Senator, the recent buzz about Setti Warren is much more credible, but I just don't see a senator coming from the local level.

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Still, Menino is right on the issues. The recent bubble in headline grabbing crime obscures Boston's steadily sinking crime rate. His experience with education reform led to the Boston public system earning a Board Award -- Boston students outscore the average American on national tests, even as the best students are scooped up by private and charter schools. He has teamed up with Bloomberg to take on the NRA and tell the truth about the centrality in guns in making the streets of cities less safe. Menino has spoken at length about hybrid fuels and has put in place incentives for their use in Boston. He has defended the environmentally friendly plans of the Rose Kennedy Greenway

The crime article quotes shrinking national stats - I didn't see anything referencing a shrinking crime rate in Boston which, according to the article, correlates more to a national trend than a local phenomenon. Can't say he's right or wrong - just there is not evidence one way or the other.

The school award says Boston students IMPROVED more than other students in the US, not that they outscored other students - this is true across Mass as we have implemented the accountability of MCAS.

Even I'll give Menino points on the environmental stuff - but let's be real -these are not hotbutton election issues.

Bottom line - Menino v. Brown statewide -Brown in a cakewalk.

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Bottom line - Menino v. Brown statewide -Brown in a cakewalk.

And that's the point. I like Mumbles mostly, but a good politician is good with both policy and politics. While Mumbles is good with both at the city level, that success works against him at the senate level.

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he'd be painted as the straight version of Barney Frank. An orator he ain't.

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Not unless he wants serious people from all over the country poking through those skeletons in his closet. My guess would be NO.

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Sabutai really thinks Menino runs a "responsive" operation? Seriously, has Sabutai ever tried doing business with City Hall? They'll be responsive if they think you're loyal to them and have the ear of the mayor. Otherwise, you'll be cut off.

Having an iPhone app does not make the mayor responsive, it just means that City Hall will push whatever is trendy. That doesn't mean they'll follow through. Consider the great promise of citywide WiFi which died in internal political clashes once it stopped being cool

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I have no idea why I put City Hall instead of responsive in quotes in the title.

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I have been a huge Menino fan since I moved to Boston in 1991 and he was my district city councilor. But I would not want to see a Massachusetts Senate seat go to a man who would be 70 years old when he was sworn in for the first time. With the Senate power structure defined by seniority, this would mean we'd probably be marking time until Menino decided to retire after 6 or 12 years in office. Tom Menino will be remembered as one of Boston's greatest mayors, but I hope he closes out his fine career in that office.

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Well, that's one way to get rid of him! Look around folks, this City - for those who live here - is a mess! A Police Dept that can't solve murders, crumbling sidewalks, a library system ignored, mismanaged & pilfered over 20 years, a City Hall that doesn't have voice mail and is so politicized that routine Building Permits need a sponsor. And yes it is true, he ain't the brightest bulb on the marquee.

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Why should Menino have to go and fix other's mistakes? He is far to important to the Boston Community. He is the best Mayor in the history of our great City. His re-election record proves it. I am willing to bet he would win at any office he would run for. The man is a machine!

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