2006 elections

You wouldn't know the election was more than two months ago, based on the Google text ads that keep popping up on sites that mention Kerry Healey or Mitt Romney. Take, for example, the 2008 page on Patrick Ruffini's site, which had this at the top a few minutes ago:

That's what the Globe's Political Intelligence will be doing over the next couple of days.

Nothing against Deval Patrick - I voted for the guy, after all - but the Globe's Bostonian of the Year doesn't actually live in Boston. Maybe they should have named him Miltonian of the Year? OK, OK, makes more sense than Time's inane decision to make me person of the year, but still.

On Blue Mass. Group, David reports learning two things from a "Beat the Press" show on political bloggers: John Carroll has a broken sarcasm meter (unable to figure out a joke even when it's explained to him) and Joe Sciacca of the Herald is under the impression that the Patrick campaign was disappointed when Blue Mass. Group endorsed Patrick.

Hub Politics interviews Peter Torkildsen, who wants to take over the chairmanship of the Massachusetts Republican Party.

David Kravitz of Blue Mass. Group is co-chair of Deval Patrick's civic-engagagement:

... Our group been asked to consider three general "principles" in going about our task:

Converting the grassroots campaign into a way of governing;

Increasing civic engagement; and

Rebuilding communities throughout the state. ...

Regular visitors to Hub Politics might be forgiven for thinking that exactly 30 seconds after he takes his oath of office, Deval Patrick will jump into his limo and drive out to Shirley to personally free Benjamin LaGuer (and then point him in the direction of the white women).

Unfortunately for Hub Politics' finely developed sense of schadenfreude, Patrick could not unlock LaGuer's cell door on Jan. 1 even if he wanted to. Unlike, say, the governors of Texas or Alabama, Massachusetts governors can only recommend commutations to the Governor's Council, an elected holdover from pre-Revolution days that must approve all commutations (thanks to that pesky Part 2, Chapter II, Section I, Article VIII of the state constitution).

There are nine councilors - the lieutenant governor and councilors elected from eight districts across the state. The council doesn't always do what the governor wants. Just ask Norman Porter, who fled Massachusetts after the governor's council rejected Michael Dukakis's proposed commutation of a murder charge.

The Deval Patrick Transition (hmm, sounds like a 1980s rock group, no?).

Peter Morin knows something about how to get elected as a Republican in Massachusetts - he served as a state representative from the Cape between 1985 and 1991. On Wave Maker, he discusses ways Massachusetts Republicans can climb out of the basement (and admits he voted for Patrick because he seemed far more human than Healey): Read more

Bruce is not surprised that Boston elections officials blew it in yet another election, this time by failing to provide enough ballots at a number of polling places:

... How tough a job is this?

You've got a list of registered voters in front of you. Count the names on the list. Get that number of blank ballots. We're talking about the kind of math that baffles first-graders.

And, Boston election officials, apparently. ...

Photographic evidence now proves that three Billionaires for Bush took off their bling in order to infiltrate two 'Victory' parties on Election Night (well, one "Victory" party and one Victory Party!).

We even met a "Prisoner for Patrick", darling! The experience was most enlightening.

Toodles!

Mike Mennonno notes that now that the national press has discovered Our Deval, suddenly his race is mentioned all the time:

... If Deval himself was "blacker," or had run a "blacker" campaign — fear of his "blackness" is what Healey was trying to force into white voters' consciousness with her rape ads--what do you think would have been the outcome? He would likely still have won, but by a slimmer margin. He didn't play into Healey's race-baiting, and that turned out to be the best thing for his campaign. But the undercurrents of racial fear and loathing Healey tried to exploit do deserve real and systematic examination. Just because we voted in a black governor doesn't mean that all the sudden everything's hunky-dory when it comes to race in Massachusetts. ...

OK, so Secretary of State Bill Galvin vows to take over the Boston elections department because of that ballot-shortage issue the other night. Andy at Mass. Revolution Now wonders where the Dark Prince was before the election - when Boston was already under federal investigation on various election issues:

... Bill Galvin has been in charge of voting supervision in this state for something like 12 years and only now is he going to get serious about looking out for voters?

So what does anyone think we can expect from Billy? Well his latest idea has been bringing in the electronic disaster machines manufactured by Diebold. I feel so safe having Billy on the job now. ...

Actually, this isn't the first time Galvin has yelled at Boston elections officials, and Tuesday's ballot shortage might just be the proverbial straw.

The Globe's Political Intelligence reports that Galvin "issued a scathing report" on the city's election performance back in 2003. And you'll recall the whole Dianne Wilkerson/Sonia Chang-Diaz mess, in which the city elections department failed to even count any votes in several precincts this past September.

Oh, sure, there are those Gloomy Gusses who are barricading their doors against the imminent onslaught of rapists and who fret their taxes will go up so high they won't be able to afford that Porsche they have their eye on. But for most Boston bloggers with an opinion on the elections, it's still party time.

Michael Femia writes that yesterday, he couldn't decide which day was better: Yesterday or Oct. 27, 2004. In either case: Read more

In an exclusive interview, Mihos could only say: Woof!

How you're feeling right now depends, of course, on which way you voted yesterday. A round-up of local bloggers on the national results (and Rummy, too!): Read more

Ian tended a bar at the party:

... We were set up in, effectively, the overflow room. There was a big room with balconies and big auditorium setup stuff where all the speeches happened, and our room was right next to it, with giant television screens, tables, and bars. It never got crowded enough for us to get busy, unfortunately. Busy is fun; slow is less fun. Also, busy is more money.

Our bar had four bartenders and two cash registers at it, and one barback assigned.

We had something I'd never encountered before. Female barbacks. ...

Mass Marrier analyzes the defeat of the three statewide ballot questions; he says 2 and 3 were just too confusing for most people. As for 1:

... Voters bought into Chicken Little-style claims of bodies on the highways and drunken teens in an updated version of Reefer Madness. ...

Talonvaki was glad to see Question 1 defeated, but for a different reason:

... The small liquor stores have something the supermarkets don't have: character. I have grown to love the local packies. The one near my house, where I've been going for 6½ years, and they know me (the woman remembers when I moved in!), the shop on Mass Ave., where until recently Dixie the cat lived, the shop in Southie with the autographed photo of Bobby Orr in midair (and a story to go with it), the store across from the Star Market on Beacon in Somerville that's a shrine to firefighters ... every time I go into one, it's not just to get booze, it's to connect with the neighbourhood and have a conversation.

You can't do that in the supermarket. And now that you can buy liquor on Sundays, there's really no need to. ...

Same for Onward Charles:

... I live in Mission Hill, so the booze runs plentiful, and already having a plethora of liquor stores and bars doesn't really elicit a reaction of "omfg we need Stop & Shop to have crap wine too!" The scare was that bringing wine and beer to convenience stores would have been big trouble for little mom n' pop shops.

Ed. note: You can buy wine in a few supermarkets; if you really want to pick up some wine with your Stouffer's, try Omni Foods on Rte. 9 in Chestnut Hill. Also, does anybody know if Melvin Drugs on Comm. Ave. in Brighton still sells hip-flask bottles of hard liquor?

Transcript of Patrick's victory speech.

Matt: Deval. Thanks for being my new Governor.

Sharon Gartenberg: Deval Patrick's Resounding Victory: A Vote for Community:

Voters in Massachusetts have given our overwhelming support to a governor-elect who stresses sense of community and the need to care about each other's dreams and aspirations as well as our own. It's a message we've clearly been hungering for after the bitter, negative, partisan politics that Karl Rove and the Bush administration have brought to the national arena these past six years. ...

Now the hard work begins, Adam Reilly writes: Read more

Ron Newman has the numbers: Voters who had questions 5 and 6 on their ballots rejected non-binding referenda on taking city investments out of companies that do business with Israel and demanding Israel let Palestinians return to their ancestral homes.

Whiteboy gets the scoop:

... Patrick: "Hello?"

Mihos: "Is your refrigerator running?"

Patrick: "Yes, my refrigerator is running."

Mihos: "Well, I'M NOT anymore!" ...

Question 3 going down to defeat.

Packies beat supermarkets on Question 1.

Fusion voting wins goes fishin'.

Well, that didn't take long: TV stations declare Patrick victory at 8:01.

Blue Mass. Group at the Patrick party at the Hynes: The mood in the Hynes Convention Center can only be described in one word: jubilation.

Teddy: Keep Howie Carr away from the Tobin Bridge. Read more

Boston election officials have some 'splainin' to do.