City Council President Mike Ross, joined by councilors Mark Ciommo, Charles Yancey and Chuck Turner, said today they were prepared to vote against a proposed firefighters contract unless firefighters make significant concessions.

The Globe declares Menino A leader in touch, in gear. The Herald looks ahead to 2013 and wonders if Menino will really stick around that long.

John Carroll predicts Menino will regret running for that fifth term. David Bernstein hopes Menino uses some of his political capital to deal with "some very difficult things that need doing." Scot Lehigh starts with the nagging. Peter Gelzinis talks to some voters, provides a sort of O. Henry ending.

WBUR declares Chuck Turner kind of a cult leader, says that helps explain why the Innocent Until Proven Guilty Councilor will win tomorrow.

Mike Ball reminds us of all the stories circling around Boston, most of which seem unlikely to affect upcoming elections:

The incumbent Roxbury city councilor spent Tuesday roaming his district with four security guards, one packing heat, opponent Carlos Henriquez charges:

I'm concerned that the councilor feels the need for security to travel the district which he represents on election day. Every night teens and mothers in my neighborhood travel alone. Some with their children to bus stops with no sense of security. I wonder how they feel. ... We are working to teach young men in the community that they don't need to have guns or travel with a gang for safety. But if the sitting City Councilor feels he needs someone with a gun with him to travel Roxbury, Dorchester and the South End, then what is he saying about the community he represents.

In an hour-long debate this morning on Touch FM, District 7 City Councilor Chuck Turner and challenger Carlos Henriquez, differed on how a city councilor could make life better in the Roxbury, the Fenway and the South End.

You know the ones (yes, yes, this one and this one, among others). Associated Press reports a federal judge today basically asked federal prosecutors: Was that really necessary? Turner in particular has used the inclusion of the photos in the initial indictments as an argument against an order barring him from publicly discussing evidence in the case against him.

Former state Sen. Dianne Wilkerson was today charged with 23 new counts of mail and wire fraud, the US Attorney's office announced.

That brings the number of federal charges against Wilkerson for allegedly taking federal money from "Cooperating Witness" and local businessman Ron Wilborn to 32. The feds say the number of charges against City Councilor Chuck Turner remains set at five. Each faces the potential of spending the rest of their lives in prison if convicted on all the charges.

Kevin Cullen sticks up for Chuck Turner today, decrying the court order that prevents him from publicly discussing any pre-trial evidence the feds hand over to his lawyers.

Three things:

Is it a bit odd that Cullen is writing about the court order when the Globe itself has yet to report on it? That might explain why he doesn't discuss the part of the order in which the judge slaps around the U.S. Attorney's office for its prosecution of the case to date.

Second, the Caped Columnist really should find his own voice instead of imitating Howie Carr and making up monickers for the people he writes about ("Comrade Turner," how droll).

Third, Tovarisch Cullen places great emphasis on video of Turner allegedly accepting a bribe:

Anybody who hasn't seen that video, or read or heard talk about it, is either dead, deaf, or blind, and in any case is so insulated from everyday life as to preclude them from being qualified to sit in judgment of a parking violation, much less a man's liberty.

Last I checked, I still have a pulse; I can hear you, my loyal reader, whining about me bashing Cullen yet again; and I can see Cullen's lead, something about Kate Winslet, perfectly fine. And yet, I've never seen that video!

Where is it? I've certainly seen the screen capture (or as Clever Kev might call it, "the photo") the feds released, purportedly from a video. But actual movin' pictures of Chuck Turner being handed a wad of bills? Anybody have a URL for that?