2006 elections

Map of Boston primary results

JeremyBThompson — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 00:40:16 +0000

Precinct maps of Boston primary results here.

Hey, somebody tell the Healey campaign it's over and they need to turn out the lights

adamg — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 21:39:01 +0000

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:

Inaugablogging

adamg — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 22:01:52 +0000

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

Shouldn't the Bostonian of the Year live in Boston?

adamg — Sun, 31 Dec 2006 20:54:49 +0000

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.

Beating Beat the Press

adamg — Sun, 10 Dec 2006 15:16:02 +0000

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.

Interview with the Man Who Would Be GOP Chairman

adamg — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 15:18:22 +0000

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

Grass-roots government?

adamg — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 15:13:49 +0000

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. ...

Could somebody please explain the Massachusetts constitution to Hub Politics?

adamg — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 01:51:54 +0000

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.

Need a job with the state?

adamg — Sat, 18 Nov 2006 00:38:24 +0000

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

How Republicans can come back in Massachusetts

adamg — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 13:39:48 +0000

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):

Incompetent Boston elections officials

adamg — Sat, 11 Nov 2006 20:51:44 +0000

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. ...

Billionaires Infiltrate Political Parties!

Ivana Moore-Enmoore — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 18:57:16 +0000

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!

Wait a minute. Deval Patrick is black? Get OUT!

adamg — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 17:22:07 +0000

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 â€” 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. ...

Bill Galvin, secretary of hypocrisy or just too patient?

adamg — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 17:12:38 +0000

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.

The glee continues

adamg — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 13:51:51 +0000

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: