Quick Takes

--AP's Devlin Barrett reminds us that pundits once anticipated a three-way, all-New York Presidential campaign this fall. Yeah, and the Yankees and Mets will meet in the World Series. Ha!

--Flaschner Judicial Insitute is sponsoring an interesting-looking legal panel on the ripple effects of the Goodrich decision, Wednesday at the John Adams courthouse.

--More on this race later, but after initial skepticism I'm beginning to think that Scott Brown should be worried. 

--For what it's worth, I tend to agree with Tom Brokaw's analysis contained here (in an AP article about former Phoenix colleague Mark Jurkowitz's latest PEJ study), that the months-long media obsession with Clinton's need to end her campaign was obnoxious, inappropriate, and interminable... but that it stemmed less from sexism than from "too much time and too little imagination."

--Saw House Banking Chair Barney Frank at the Mass Dem Convention, and asked him what Friday's economic news means. It means that the American economic problem is prolonged, he said: "we're a long way from turning it around." 

--This is what I get for siding with a Republican: Lawrence Mayor Michael Sullivan was trounced by Methuen Mayor Bill Manzi in their weight-loss competition. This blog publicly supported Sullivan (a Republican), and insinuated that Manzi (a Democrat) would resemble some of the more rotund species of farm animal by contests' end. Well, Manzi showed more discipline than I anticipated, and came away an easy winner. I humbly congratulate the much-deserving winner, and turn my back on the disgraced loser forever.