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  • March 28, 2008
    By David S. Bernstein

    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.

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  • March 27, 2008
    By David S. Bernstein
    Well, so much for that.

    Menino -- who plopped another $28k or so of contributions into his campaign account today -- continues to look more and more daunting. Will nobody step in with a serious campaign to enliven the tedium of the suffering political journalists?

  • March 26, 2008
    By David S. Bernstein
    In my Talking Politics column in this week's Boston Phoenix -- out tomorrow, online today -- I take a look at two hot-button issues.

    First, natch, there's last week's casino vote. DiMasi was able to split the state reps who support slot machines at race tracks, or so-called "racinos," from the casino supporters, which helped him defeat the bill.

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  • March 21, 2008
    By David S. Bernstein

    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.

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  • March 21, 2008
    By David S. Bernstein

    ...how many of the state reps who voted to kill the casino plan were keeping track of NCAA hoops scores during yesterday's floor debate for the pool they're in?

  • March 19, 2008
    By David S. Bernstein
    For years, Republican candidates for governor have gained an edge in Massachusetts by playing up the fear of what a unified Democratic Party, working together, would do with control of both the legislature and the administration. That message didn't resonate in '06 -- perhaps because voters cogently foresaw that Democrats under the Statehouse Dome would end up fighting one another rather than getting anything done.

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  • March 19, 2008
    By David S. Bernstein
    After much agitation-provoking delay, the Clinton Library has released the daily schedule of Hillary Clinton during the WJC administration; I just scanned January 1994. Scholars, opposition researchers, and conspiracy theorists will be busy today: The Hubbells are on the 1/7/94 flight manifest! She had a private meeting with Merck's CEO and lobbyist on 1/21/94!

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  • March 19, 2008
    By David S. Bernstein
    I have often analogized contemporary race relations in America -- in conversations with both white and black people -- with a couple arguing without understanding what the other is really thinking. The husband suggests vacationing in South Carolina instead of Florida this year, because they both like to golf. The wife gets upset, thinking that he dislikes her family and wants to permanently end their annual visits.

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  • March 18, 2008
    By David S. Bernstein
    Writing nearly two years ago, I noted the gulf that needs to be bridged between the liberal blogosphere and certain traditional core Democratic constituencies, particularly labor. The continuing existence of that chasm was brightly on display today: unions demonstrated in support of Deval Patrick's casino plan, while progbloggers (as I like to call them -- why has this not caught on?) continued to rail against them.

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  • March 18, 2008
    By David S. Bernstein

    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.

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  • March 13, 2008
    By David S. Bernstein
    Tonight at 10:00 on MTV, Boston's own Status Quo is in the final four of "America's Best Dance Crew," an American Idol style show. Status Quo was one of 12 teams competing for $100,000; they'll need lots of votes to keep going. Do your civic duty. Show your Boston pride. Watch and vote!



  • March 12, 2008
    By David S. Bernstein
    The Boston Globe has a big front-page scoop today about the Feds closing in on more Boston police officers in the Roberto Pulido scandal -- well, not so much scoop as following up on what I wrote in last week's Phoenix. (Go to the bottom three paragraphs.)

    The Globe report focuses only on charges of steroid use, which may indeed be what the current grand jury is looking at.

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  • March 12, 2008
    By David S. Bernstein
    Reportedly, Eliot Spitzer will resign this morning; he has an 11:30 press conference scheduled. If true, we have now clearly delineated where the boundaries lie.

    If you are a zealous, sanctimonious prosecutor turned New York politician, and you commit...

    A) ...no adultery (Bill Weld): you fail to get elected.

    B) ..





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  • March 11, 2008
    By David S. Bernstein
    Mayor Menino took a little January breather after raising an eye-popping $1.1 million in campaign contributions in 2007, but has since picked up the pace again. Among his '08 donors so far are at least 33 people whose paychecks are printed by the City of Boston, including new School Superintendent Carol Johnson, BRA Director John Palmieri, and city councilor Stephen Murphy.

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  • March 10, 2008
    By David S. Bernstein
    You may recall that in late 2006, it looked like the legislature might try killing the same-sex-marriage-ban initiative by not voting on it. The initiative's backers went to the Supreme Judicial Court, which ruled that, although the state constitution requires the legislature to take an up-or-down vote on all pending initiative amendments, the court has no judicial remedy if the leg ignores this duty.

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