Byron Barnett had this weekend's "get" -- a taped interview with newly inaugurated Governor Deval Patrick, which aired on Sunday's "Urban Update" on WHDH. Patrick even gave Barnett a little scoop, saying that he will support John Kerry if the Senator runs for President again.
Thus Patrick steps into the morass of New Hampshire primary politics, a potential opportunity and minefield for him that
I wrote about here right after the election.
It's also a big boost to Kerry, whose stock has tumbled to pitiful lows in recent polls. That includes
a new CBS News Poll, released Saturday, that shows just 22 percent of Americans holding a favorable view of him, and a stunning 48 percent unfavorable.
That poll is of little predictive use for primary voting, as it didn't narrow to likely voters, but it still showed some interesting details. I was especially intrigued at Hillary Clinton's huge boost in favorable responses -- from 32 percent to 43 percent -- since September.
Also, Mitt Romney is still a long way from becoming a known entity, even among Republicans -- two-thirds of whom say they haven't heard enough about him to form an opinion.