Call him Hizzonah again.

Boston today gave Tom Menino a record fifth term today, re-electing him by a 57-43 margin over challenger Michael Flaherty.

"Let's be clear: We haven't made history with this election, but we will in what we create of it," Menino told supporters. History will not record the win until we make "a new Boston Miracle for our kids," he said. "Complacency is the highest hurdle we face. Let's fend off the temptation to rest on past accomplishments."

The Man Who Would Be Deputy Mayor today endorsed Felix Arroyo, John Connolly, Tito Jackson and Ayanna Pressley. His reasoning, in e-mail to supporters:

The Sierra Club endorsed the two at-large incumbents today; apparently, none of the other 13 people running in the race were green enough for the group. Also winning endorsements: incumbent district councilors Michael Ross and Mark Ciommo.

The clubs says the four "will further the work of protecting the environment, support better transportation options, reduce global warming emissions, increase recycling and help push Massachusetts forward into the new 'Green' economy."

The club also made endorsements in Cambridge, Somerville and Watertown - also almost entirely incumbents.

And will city councilors Charles Yancey, Sam Yoon, Stephen Murphy, and John Connolly do likewise? You may recall they made a point of not endorsing anybody in the 2nd Suffolk state-senate race after their horse lost by a nose in September. Now that said horse has made them look like, at best, tools, you think they might make the best of a bad situation and endorse their fellow Democrat?

At-large Councilor John Connolly is calling for a hearing to consider creation of a European-style bike-sharing program in Boston. The Menino administration has already begun looking at ways of increasing bicycle usage in Boston.

Connolly says the city should look at options from letting people use communal bikes for free to a ZipCar-like bike-rental program for people who need a bike for a short period of time.

The City Council holds a hearing on Thursday on Bisphenol A, a chemical used in many plastic bottles (Nalgene, anyone) that might not be all that good for your health. Councilors could try to ban bottles made with the chemical.

Michael Pahre will tell you way more than you thought you'd need to know about the chemical - and why the council is taking up a matter normally under the purview of the federal Food and Drug Administration.

The hearing, organized by at-large Councilor John Connolly, starts at 3 p.m. in the Ianella Chamber, fifth floor, City Hall.

Michael Pahre takes note of newbie at-large city councilor John Connolly (best known in West Roxbury and Roslindale) and his quick learning of the BC expansion issue and wonders if it might already be time to add him to the list of possible candidates for mayor next year:

We'll watch those fund-raising numbers carefully over the next six months to see how well he replenishes his warchest.

Did John Connolly's not-so-anonymous mailings violate federal postal regulations? Connolly only admits to sending out some of the anti-Murphy mailings, although the Herald reports the others had the same postal permit number as used by the Connolly campaign for other mailings.

Winner:

Loser:

Big winner:

Winner:

Guy whose picture I didn't happen to take at the Roslindale Day Parade:
John Connolly

Steve Murphy proved tonight he's the Model T of elected officials: He can get elected to anything as long as it's an at-large seat on the Boston city council. He came in second tonight, giving him one of the four at-large seats on the city council.

Felix Arroyo, meanwhile, proved that, on a rainy day, when not even 14% of registered voters show up, organization DOES matter, as in: If you don't have much of one, you're going to wonder what the hell happened.

And what the hell happened tonight was that John Connolly, who had an incredibly organized get-out-the-vote effort, especially in his home base of Roslindale and West Roxbury, simply got more votes than Arroyo (who came in second two years ago, which led to a brief Arroyo-for-mayor boomlet). If the flap over Connolly's anonymous anti-Murphy mailings had an impact, in the end, it didn't matter (except to possibly give Steve Murphy some sympathy votes).

Of course, above everybody else sits, again, Michael Flaherty. Not really a surprise there, and you know he already has people thinking what colors to use on the "Flaherty for Mayor" signs. The only question is whether he dares to take on Tom Menino in two years or waits until 2013 - when, who knows, maybe he'll be facing Sam Yoon, who also got re-elected tonight.

Of course, the big question is what this all means for actual policy making in Boston. Granted, we have a "weak" city council, which makes it hard for them to actually get anything done, but they do have the power to hold hearings and get to vote on the mayor's budget, so it'll be interesting to read in the GateHouse and college papers what happens (since we obviously can forget about the Globe and Herald writing much of anything about the council).

In other races:

Mark Ciommo beat Gregory Glennon to win the Allston/Brighton district council race by a roughly 60/40 margin (props to Michael Pahre for calling that margin). He takes over for Jerry McDermott, who moved out of town.

In Dorchester, Maureen Feeney easily maintained her position as the only woman on the council, swamping Michael Cote.

Charles Yancey did even better against J.R. Rucker in his Dorchester/Mattapan district.

It was Chuck Turner over Carlos Henriquez in Roxbury in another trouncing.

All other district races were uncontested.

Vote numbers from the city elections department.

In September Murphy was trying to keep two jobs a $100,000 + state job and his $85,000 councilor seat

He is the one that tattled on Flaherty for having an expired City Council President placard in his window. How does Howie get is inside anonymous City hall info? Ratso gives it to him.

Turned his back on 41 well trained battle worn Boston Municipal police offices. They all got laid off in January and most of them were friends who had helped him win elections.