Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Congrats to Linehan

The Globe says that Linehan's victory yesterday shows the power of Southie, but I'd say, without having seen the precinct breakdown, that it really shows the power of Frank Chin. District 2's Chinatown precincts loved Susan Passoni two years ago -- 71/29 over Jim Kelly -- but were Linehan territory for the April prelim and, I assume, in yesterday's vote. That's Chin at work.

That doesn't take anything away from Linehan, who has done a lot of community-relations work in Chinatown and elsewhere. So, anyone for a November rematch?

5/16/2007 6:51:46 AM by David S. Bernstein | Comments [2] |

Wednesday, May 16, 2007 7:15:09 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

From what I hear, Passoni won Chinatown...

Daniel

Wednesday, May 16, 2007 11:19:59 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

Yes, David Bernstein made a wrong assumption. Passoni won Chinatown's two precincts. In the central Chinatown precinct, she won 322:296. In the precinct that Chinatown shares with the South End border (that includes four Chinatown affordable housing projects), Passoni won 626:292.

I think the election shows that Southie is not so monolithic as it once was. The election was very close, and took a huge effort from City Hall insiders to win.

In Chinatown, it shows that young progressive activists and Chinatown residents are challenging the traditional leadership.

Lydia Lowe

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