Blue Mass Group

The latest issue of The New Yorker carries a commentary by one of my favorite writers, Hendrik Hertzberg.

His column describes yet another variation on the theme: how the right trashes the left.

In the conservative media, the phenomenon feeds more voraciously the closer you get to the mucky, sludgy bottom.

What’s he talking about? See below.

The Patrick campaign can’t be overly thrilled to see this: That’s Somerville “Mayor Joe” Curtatone (a Deval endorsor) standing tall with Kerry Healey behind a podium emblazoned with her campaign placard at a campaign event hosted in his City.  Anything for a photo-op, eh, Mayor Joe! The State House News Service caption: Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone spoke along with Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey in front of the energy efficient Michael E. Capuano Early Childhood Center in Somerville regarding Healey’s energy efficiency plan.  The plan calls for renewable energy sources and the use of energy efficient materials in order to keep energy supply above future demand Mr. Mayor, if you are going to say things like this about your supposed candidate, you should at least insist that they take down the Healey-Hillman sign.  Or maybe even telling Kerry Healey that you won’t allow you or your city to be used as a campaign prop.  There’s an idea! But for crying out loud, don’t say this stuff. Otherwise, you look like you are hedging your bets, which is pretty weak. Progressives of Somerville, unite!

From time to time, I have posted Tom Reilly’s policy proposals on BMG because the mainstream media has largely ignored the substance of the Democratic campaigns.  I understate that it easier for a company, such as the Boston Globe, to devote limited resources to analyzing thirty-second ad spots rather than culling through an eleven-page education policy proposal, but honestly, which will have a greater impact on the next Governor’s agenda for our Commonwealth?

So, in the spirit of one-stop shopping for those with a little time on their hands and deeper interests than pithy slogans, here are links to each of the candidate’s policy proposals, courtesy of their respective websites.

Tom Reilly

DFA Summer Get Together: “The Tea is in the Harbor” Book Event with Scott Goldstein from Democracy for America What can we do to bring young people into politics? What kinds of strategies and technologies will help us recruit new grassroots leaders? Join Boston Drinking Liberally and activists from local Democracy for America chapters as we chat with Scott Goldstein, author of the exciting new book, “The Tea is in the Harbor”. Scott will discuss his experiences working with Generation DFA, and his strategy for reaching out to young liberals and bringing them in to the political process. This will be a great chance to meet liberal dinkers and DFA activists from around the Boston area! Copies of the book will be available at Middlesex if you’d like to buy one. See http://www.scottfora… for more information. WHERE: Middlesex Lounge, 315 Mass Ave, Cambridge, Massachusetts WHEN: Aug. 8, 7:00 – 8:30 pm RSVP: http://upcoming.org/…

A new CBS4/Survey USA poll of 479 likely Democratic primary voters taken over the last few days shows the same lineup (Patrick, Gabrieli, Reilly) as the previous one, but the differences are small, and the margin of error covers most of them. Here are the results of the latest poll, which was conducted Monday 7/31 through Wednesday 8/2.  The results from the last SUSA poll, conducted 7/9 through 7/11 on 417 likely Dem primary voters, are in parentheses. Patrick: 35% (37%) Gabrieli: 30% (27%) Reilly: 27% (26%) Undecided: 8% (10%) MOE: +/- 4.6% (4.9%) The movement from the last poll strikes me as so small, and so well within the margin of error, as to be insignificant: bottom line message seems to be “no change.”  Which suggests that, rather than the CA/Tastrophe giving Reilly a boost (which I had thought it might), it seems to have put the campaign into a state of suspended animation.  No effect from the Big Dig, no discernible effect from TV ads.  That strikes me as good news for Patrick, since it’s better to be frozen in first place than not. UPDATE: The fact that everyone (so far) who has commented on this post thinks [...]

Riding the strength of his recent BMG endorsement, reality-based candidate Ned Lamont has opened a double-digit lead among likely Democractic voters over Iraq-invasion-loving torture-boosting Joementum Lieberman. “Millionaire businessman Ned Lamont opened a double-digit lead over veteran Sen. Joe Lieberman less than a week before Connecticut’s Democratic primary, raising the possibility that the three-term senator may have to run as an independent in November, a new poll released Thursday shows,” the Associated Press reports. Democratic Massachusetts candidates edging too far to the right and ignoring the blogosphere, take note. (PS: Lamont will still have his work cut out for him to beat Lieberman in the general).

In a new CBS poll Chris is gaining ground. Patrick still leads with 35% Gabrieli with 30% and Reilly slipping to 27%

Doesn’t it seem that every time we turn on the TV or pick up The Globe that one politician or another is involved in some form of selfishness or similar lunacy?  From the Bush administration sinking our foreign policy ship to our own Big Dig disaster, in the media, our elected officials seem hell bent on making our lives miserable.  Is it not the purpose of our elected representatives to help those in need?  Ah, but hope springs eternal.  It turns out that there are those in office who have the best interests of their constituents at the very top of their priority list.  Last week, after unanimous passage by the House and Senate, the legislature sent the “Equal Choice” bill to the Governor’s desk and today it was signed into law.  The Equal Choice law gives elders and the disabled the option to choose where they will receive long term care services in the most fitting and least restrictive setting available while also saving taxpayers money.  This true “win-win” legislation championed by Rep. Mike Festa of Melrose/Wakefield is a ringing example of how thoughtful and committed elected officials can make a real difference in people’s lives.  In this morning [...]

This morning’s Globe has dropped the ball.  In Frank Phillips’ article about Deval Patrick he quotes a critic but filters out relevant information about that critic.

Read on…

One person is ready and able to do it. Tomorrow we start the rumor that he (or she) is also willing. BMG Grassroots Baby.