Assuming the early unofficial returns hold up....

1. Maureen stands alone. Neither Rosie Hanlon nor Althea Garrison seem to have made it past the prelims, leaving exactly zero women on the final ballot for the 13 Boston City Council seats, other than council President Maureen Feeney.

2. Eastie: right on the map, right on the ideological spectrum! Or at least, they're grumpy toward liberals -- and that means you too, Mayor Menino.

A search of the Boston Globe archives for Carlos Henriquez reveals that the paper is, in fact, aware that there's a preliminary election for City Council in Roxbury -- although poor Carlos hasn't rated a mention since May 1. The Herald has not run a single news story about that race, but Alan Lupo did write about him in his column back in April.

I have believed all year that Newt Gingrich has been, in effect, running for President this whole time, and has merely been plotting out his best timing for entry while subtly sabotaging the other candidates. Over the past several days, he has been suggesting to reporters that he will start taking "pledges" in October, and if he gets $30 million pledged by early November, he'll run.

In this week's Phoenix, out tomorrow, I write about politics encroaching on Massachusetts's 9/11 commemoration -- and suggest that it's the inevitable result of Jim Ogonowski's candidacy for Congress. Read it online now:

In tragedy's shadow: Politics encroached on 9/11 in Massachusetts this year, even if nobody wants to admit it.

"The court ruling in Iowa is just another example of an activist judge trying to find things in the Constitution that aren't there. As Republicans, we must oppose discrimination and defend traditional marriage: one man, one woman."

I just received this press release:

Democratic Presidential candidate Governor Bill Richardson, campaigning today in Iowa, issued the following statement regarding the recent "spying" incident involving the National Football League’s New England Patriots:

"The President has been allowed to spy on Americans without a warrant, and our U.

Yet another attempt at a GOP Presidential debate is toast, as none of the major candidates have agreed to participate in a September 27 event, hosted by Tavis Smiley, at Morgan State University in Baltimore. A Dartmouth/NECN debate for later this month has aparently been scrapped. A Univision debate originally scheduled for this weekend has been "indefinitely postponed" because only McCain agreed to show.