Jon Keller has sussed out that Deval Patrick was on a book-pitch trip to NYC on the day of the casino vote -- and in retrospect, couldn't we have guessed that from the clues?

I don't think it means much of anything. But the story may matter nevertheless.

It's absolutely legitimate for Mass. residents to be wary of gubernatorial absenteeism, even to the point of hypersensitivity, after Romney, Cellucci, Weld, Dukakis.

State senator Robert Hedlund does not, in fact, hail from the mythical town of "Weyland," as I wrote in the current issue of the Boston Phoenix, but from the beautiful burb Weymouth. Bob can feel free to make fun of me on his radio show for that one. Also, Darrell Crate does not spell his name "Darryl."

On another note, Methuen Mayor Bill Manzi maintains a strong public facade in response to my decision to root for his arch-nemesis Michael Sullivan of Lawrence in their weight-loss contest.

The Herald has a story today about the pols with the biggest campaign war chests, but I'm afraid Dave Wedge is going to be a little red-faced when he realizes his numbers are all wrong.

He made a common mistake: not realizing that the monthly campaign-finance bank reports do not include funds that have been transfered to other banks, usually in the form of CDs.