You know how sometimes you forget that certain programmed things need updating? That your voice mail message has your old job title, or your email signature macro has your old fax number?

I think somebody who's responsible for programming Mitt Romney forgot that you need to periodically update the canned answer to "what books have you read recently."

There's been a lot of chin-stroking this week over Mitt Romney's first TV ad of the cycle. I, the self-appointed World Mitterology Expert, naturally believe that the episode ties directly into things I've been saying for a very long time about Romney, politics, advertising, and news media, so I will now pontificate.

The gist is: Romney represents a great leap forward in the corporatization of politics, and the political world is not ready to deal with it.

The Boston Phoenix has obtained the proposed new map of Boston's city council districts, which Councilor Bill Linehan - chair of the redistricting committee -- plans to unveil at a hearing Monday. Of particular interest will be changes to Linehan's own district -- he is removing parts of Chinatown and the South End, which went for Suzanne Lee in Linehan's razor-thin victory (being recounted this afternoon).

Let's see....

--I can't say I'm all that worked up about Michael McLaughlin. I've met him a couple of times, but I'll defer to Scot Lehigh's assessment. We'll see what turns up now that the microscope is on him -- could be he was a decent administrator who found ways to legally, if grossly, pad his pocketbook, or it could be considerably worse.

In this week's issue of the Boston Phoenix -- in print tomorrow, online now -- I tell of the current campaign to select a new chairman for the Massachusetts Republican Party, to replace Jennifer Nassour who recently stepped down.

The likely winner is Robert Maginn, long-time ally of Mitt Romney and more recent ally of Scott Brown.

The Globe beat me to it, but I'm just now getting the chance to blast the state legislature for trying to increase the amount of gaming income diverted to purses at horse tracks. Both houses passed the new version of the bill, containing that change, yesterday. (As I write, there is word that they may try to back up and rework this provision.

With the end of the year's formal session nearing, the Massachusetts legislature is pushing through some bills that, basically, they don't want to hear a bunch of whining about over the break. That includes the gaming expansion bill, the compromise for which emerged from committee yesterday and should be on Governor Patrick's desk by late today or tomorrow.

I was pleased to see Michael Barbaro's big New York Times story yesterday about Romney's record at Bain -- because I've been looking for an excuse to trot out one of my favorite Mitt anecdotes, which remains sadly overlooked.

The story comes from the Boston Globe's seven-part 2007 series on the life of Romney. In Part 3, William Bain tells Romney that he and the Bain partners have chosen him to head a new spinoff company, Bain Capital:

In the course of an election like yesterday's, I end up tucking away a few takeaway items that don't end up fitting in anywhere. Here are two from yesterday:

1) Beware armies of the faithful. The two big winners yesterday, Ayanna Pressley and Frank Baker, relied on large quantities of unreasonably enthusaistic supporters spreading word one by one all over the place.

I've got a little analysis of yesterday's Boston City Council elections, running in this week's issue, that should be online later today. But meanwhile, here are a few notes as I scan the precinct-by-precinct results this morning.

Bear in mind that the city breaks down results by percentage of votes cast, counting each vote -- up to four on each ballot -- as if it's a separate ballot.

While we're waiting for election results, let's take a look at the newly proposed Massachusetts congressional districts, shall we?

Starting out west, Richard Neal has taken over much of John Olver's district, including the Berkshires. That will annoy some Berkshire folks who liked their own district -- and wanted to run for the seat post-Olver.

As of 9:00 this morning, just over 10,000 ballots had been cast in Boston. That's a turnout rate of just a hair under 3% -- low, but on pace for 70,000 or so, which is roughly what I expected. We'll see.

In the two competitive district races, I'll be looking for the relative increases in turnout in different parts of the district.

Tomorrow's Boston city elections have gotten the bulk of the attention from the Bay State's Boston-centric media, including yours truly. But there are more than 50 towns and cities voting tomorrow, with quite a few interesting races, for mayor, council, school committee, and so on, as well as some charter changes and other fun stuff.

I generally don't bother criticizing Andrew C. McCarthy, who as I have previously written is, for reasons beyond my ken, treated by movement conservatives as an eminent thought leader rather than an embarassment to be hidden from proper society. But I'll do so today as a hook to talk about what I think is a potential danger for the GOP in this Herman Cain sexual harassment story.

It's now just five days to election day in Boston, when five powerhouse pols vie for four at-large city council seats. (I have been greatly impressed by Will Dorcena and Sean Ryan, the other two candidates on the ballot, but neither is likely to have a chance at cracking the top four.)

All five have won city-wide before. Two have run serious campaigns for higher office and may do so again; the other three are expected to have higher office in their future.