Maintaining consistent policy positions when running for President is really, really hard. Seriously. Sure, it's tempting to paraphrase the old line about truthfulness vs. lying, and say that you never need to remember what positions you've taken, if you always just say what you believe. But it's not that simple.

Not only do times and events change, and new information or evidence appears, but there are political realities.

So, here's my suggestion: everybody take pictures of any politician they see at any Memorial Day event this weekend -- parades of course, but anything -- and post the pics to Twitter. Tag it #twitpicparade.

Pols and their staff are welcome to post their own. I even promise not to make too many mean snarky comments!

I'm just the kind of goofball who enjoys Memorial Day, enjoys parades, and enjoys politics, so I think it's fun to see pols out there doing their thing this three-day weekend.

Hey, who wants to offer productive, positive suggestions for the betterment of our democracy? C'mon! It'll be fun.

I recently posted a lengthy rant of sorts on the topic of academia vs. journalism in the coverage of politics -- spurred by some efforts by political-science academics to tackle the issue. And some of those types have riffed off my comments, including John Sides

The Romney campaign wakes up today to find two in-depth, balanced, historical overviews of his creation of the Massachusetts health care reform plan, written by top-notch journalists: Brian Mooney in the Boston Globe and Ryan Lizza in the New Yorker.

Hard to say whether this helps or hurts him, but it certainly gives the staff something to read over breakfast.

Robert Haynes, one of the most influential and controversial figures in the state's labor movement, is stepping down as President of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, the Phoenix has learned. Although the exact timing of his departure is not immediately clear, he is up for re-election this October and is informing board members that he will not seek re-election at that time.

This afternoon, to stir up some online enthusiasm over Thursday's big Presidential campaign launch event, Mitt Romney launched a little Twitter hashtag fun. It didn't really go so well.

From his @MittRomney account, the would-be President Tweeted:

I believe in America & look forward to sharing my vision with the country.

It's a bit of an odd day for Ask Me Anything -- mid-week after a Monday holiday -- but I have faith that folks will come through with some fabulous questions. Local, state, national, international, apocalyptic, whatever's on your mind. Leave your question in the comments to this post, or email them to me directly at dbernstein@phx.

"James" starts off Ask Me Anything Day via email:

What happened to the much celebrated "Worcester Power" of 2010? Will it show up anywhere in 2012? Can we get a senate candidate from outside 128?

Well, it was much celebrated by me, anyway -- but maybe I was just wrong. As you suggest, the US Senate candidates and potential candidates all seem to come not only from east of 128, but within a stone's throw of Brighton.

"Elias Nugator" asks:

Given the fact that the Commonwealth is about to lose a seat in Congress, are there any members of our delegation willing to "do the right thing" and decline to run in 2012 to prevent a ruinous intra-party fight? Or are they all gonna go down fighting no matter what?

There appear to be none willing to walk away.

"Boston Tom" asks:

Have we heard the last of the announced Democrats to challenge Scott Brown? If not, who is either (a) strongly considering a run or (b) definitely in for a run against Brown.

& "CMassPolitics" asks:

When Patty Murray and the DSCC say that they will have a front-line Senate candidate in a few weeks, do they mean Elizabeth Warren, one of the congressmen, someone else? It seems to me that Frank, Neal, Olver and Menino all publicly talking down the current candidates is an effort to keep the decks clear until Capuano makes a decision.

"Joey" asks:

On the InTrade exchange for the 2012 Republican Nomination for President, whose shares are currently undervalued/overvalued in your mind?

Ecellent question. Rounding off, here are the current Intrade numbers:

29% Mitt Romney

19% Tim Pawlenty

17% Jon Huntsman

7% Sarah Palin

6% Michele Bachmann

One if by land, two if by sea, and Tweet if by I-84 to the Mass. Pike. Yes, amid horrible storms Sarah Palin and her "One Nation" family bus tour have entered the great Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Nico Hines, a New York Times reporter sent to follow this leg of Palinpalooza, last Tweeted that he and the bus were on I-90 passing through Worcester.

I attended Mitt Romney's fine campaign-launch event today, and am still putting together a write-up about it, but I want to jump in and scream yet again that any discussion you see or hear about Mitt Romney's chances to win the GOP nomination -- no matter how intelligent and insightful that discussion may be -- that doesn't include the word "abortion" is doomed analysis.

Mitt Romney threw a great political bash yesterday, in Stratham, New Hampshire, to "officially" launch his 2012 Presidential campaign. He and his team do this stuff right. They held it on a lovely farm owned by Republican donors, located conveniently for both local and DC media to get to, got two or three hundred people to show, served chili, and put Romney up in ready-for-video staging with a speech loaded with bite-sized remarks.

The Des Moines Register reports on an Iowa Tea Party Bus Tour, in which five of the fringier GOP Presidential candidates have agreed to participate; the three-week event will tout conservative, Tea Partyish stuff while offering a platform for Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Rick Santorum, et al.

The article says that the tour "is being organized by the tea party in cooperation with American Principles in Action, the Innocence Project and the Leadership Institute."

Many have pointed out that Tim Pawlenty's big economic plan, unveiled yesterday, is so flagrantly cockamamie that he puts himself at risk of hurting himself with serious-minded conservative funders, not to mention eventual independent voters. I think he is taking a risk of that. But here's my guess at his strategy.

Most of the conservative base today sees two camps of economic theory: 1) the elitist, over-educated, ivy-tower, Harvard, Krugmanish liberal camp, with a bunch of charts and graphs; 2) the Commonsense Conservative camp.

In this week's issue of the Boston Phoenix -- in print tomorrow, online now -- I look at the 2011 Boston City Council election, now that the field is pretty much set. What happens if they hold an election, and nobody notices?

Four years ago, when Boston last voted for City Council but not mayor, less than 14% of the Boston electorate bothered to show up.

My latest Boston Phoenix column looks at the potential effects of a low-turnout city election this year, particularly for minority candidates. I've just learned about an effort that just might change the odds a little.

Ron Bell, legendary organizer, tells me that he is collaborating with the Urban League of Boston to try to register 10,000 voters this summer -- in conjunction with the Urban League's national conference taking place in Boston in late July.

I've avoided writing about this controversy, mainly because I didn't have the time or inclination this week to make phone calls about some dumb-ass thing said by an obscure and powerless state representative -- not that it isn't worthy of follow-up, but I it just wasn't high on my priority list. But I have been curious about how Representative Ryan Fattman of Sutton would walk it back.