Yesterday I told you what I was looking for; so, what did I see?
--Is he our Guy? Um, no. Guy will not reign, or rein, or rain, over anything in state government next year. Suzanne Bump, with little funding, beat him here, there, and everywhere. Now we'll see whether state Dems rush to support her for the battle with Mary Connaughton for state auditor.
--Call off the (Dela)hunt. My initial instincts were right, and we have a Perry-Keating fight for the 10th Congressional District. I wasn't surprised that the Keating win was so narrow, but I have to say I didn't expect Joe Malone to take such a humiliating beating.
--Who's afraid of a primary? Well, certainly not Bay State Democrats; it looks like the only incumbent who fell was state rep Pam Richardson. Lesson learned: the types of voters who turn out to low-interest Democratic primaries are not necessarily the same types of voters who are steaming mad at Beacon Hill.
--Stepping up, or out? Up. See 'lesson learned' above. It wasn't a clean sweep: Arthur Tobin lost his state senate race, Dan Bosley lost badly for sheriff, and Robert O'Leary narrowly lost for US Rep. Still, Rodrigues, Finegold, Clark, Welch, Rush, Buoniconti, Perry, and Morrissey all won their primaries, so perhaps the whole "Lida incident" was something of an anomoly.
--Who's the new Boston? Well, it's not a bunch of young lefties, if that's what you were looking for. Ed Coppinger is on the pro-life side of things, Russell Holmes seems to be uneasy with gay marriage, and Nick Collins was not most progressives' top picks (although the Phoenix endorsed him). Not that any of them are old-school Dapperites or anything, by a long shot. In any event, they're all potentially at the start of their political careers -- I believe Holmes, at 40, is the oldest of the four newcomers (assuming that Carlos Henriquez's lead holds) -- so keep an eye on them.
--Crazy, or crazier? Crazier. Bill Hudak is your Republican nominee against John Tierney. Jon Golnik, taking on the woman he couldn't be bothered to vote against three years ago, will now have seven more weeks to explain the conspiracy by which he claims police and prosecutors entered fabricated confessions of pot smoking into his DUI case. Ed Markey gets Gerry Dembrowski, who earlier in this election cycle was running for Governor as a member of the Constitution Party. Now that Marty Lamb has won the primary in Jim McGovern's district, he might want to rethink the very prominent placement he gives on his web site to the endorsement from batshit-crazy Minuteman Project founder Jim Gilchrist. Tom Wesley and Sean Bielat have both already been caught hiding things from their past -- and that was before anybody cared enough to do any serious digging. Vernon Harrison, who won the primary to oppose Steve Lynch... well, I'm not entirely clear what his deal is, but he seems to be suggesting that the government shouldn't be running Medicare, Medicaid, the Postal Service, Social Security, or the Department of Energy. Also, he rated himself a "10+" out of 10 on his level of agreement with the idea of impeaching the President for not securing the borders against illegal immigrants. And, although he ran unopposed in the primary in Olver's district, it's worth mentioning that Bill Gunn is a Glenn Beck "912 Project" organizer. And of course you've got Jeff Perry in the 10th. I also mentioned the Dahlberg-Martinez state senate primary; well, Democratic incumbent Susan Fargo can rest easy, Tea Party activist Martinez beat Dahlberg easily.
--Other mighty clashes. No huge surprises that I can see. DiDomenico squeaked past Flaherty again. Donogue cruised past Doherty. Kelly Timilty got re-elected to the Governor's Council. And none of the clashes really seem all that mighty, when so few people are actually interested enough to vote.
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