Blue Mass Group

Well, what a fortuitous development! If you haven't heard, John McCain has a new article in the new Contingencies magazine (It's not just for actuaries anymore!) in which he says the following: I would also allow individuals to choose to purchase health insurance across state lines, when they can find more affordable and attractive products elsewhere that they prefer. Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation. Consumer-friendly insurance policies will be more available and affordable when there is greater competition among insurers on a level playing field. You should be able to buy your insurance from any willing provider—the state bureaucracies are no better than national ones. Nationwide insurance markets that ensure broad and vigorous competition will wring out excess costs, overhead, and bloated executive compensation. [emphasis mine -- Charley] Yes indeedy, he's talking about us, right here in Massachusetts. Didn't you just know it? There are two approaches that health care free-marketeers really hate: “guaranteed issue” and “community rating.” Guaranteed issue is just that: When you apply for health [...]

The County Caucus is upon us this Wednesday, September 24th, 6:30pm at the Waltham Public High School.  More info here.

In case you’ve lost track, here’s a roundup of all 11 12 candidates and quick summaries of their qualifications.

Before we start, kudos to Ms. DeChristofaro and Sheehy for being the only candidates that posted on BMG and actually replied to questions/comments.

Being a lawyer who has practiced in this Court; who is an Administrator of this Court; who is familiar with the processes, policies, and procedures of this Court; who is ready to meet the needs of the constituency, the law, and court employees-makes me the only candidate possessing the right combination of knowledge, training, skill, and real-world experience to fill the position of Register of Probate.

I am a 1988 graduate of the University of Massachusetts/Isenburg School of Management and a 1991 graduate of the Catholic University of America/Columbus School of Law. For the past 11 years, I have served as an Assistant Solicitor for the City of Lowell representing the City of Lowell in all courts in the commonwealth and providing legal counsel on all matters pertaining to a public entity including labor and employment issues, public bidding and purchasing issues and matters involving state ethics laws.

Having practiced law for 35 years – predominantly in the Probate Courts – I am most familiar with the Middlesex Probate and Family Court, and know many of the hardworking employees, clerks, family service officers and judges who do their best to deal with over 20,000 cases a year.

I served as Coordinator of Community Education in the Middlesex DA’s Office and as Community Liaison and Special Assistant to the Attorney General in Scott Harshbarger’s innovative offices.  I was part of a very strong emphasis on community outreach, user-friendly service and professional standards.  I have been in each or the 54 cities and towns of Middlesex County and I know the diverse constituencies in the county.

A practicing attorney for over twenty years, I currently serve as an Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Attorney General Martha Coakley. Locally, I hold elected office as a member of the Arlington Housing Authority.

Before becoming an Assistant Attorney General almost ten years ago, I practiced law in state and federal court on the trial and appellate level. I am a graduate of Boston College Law School and Tufts University.  A twenty year resident of Arlington, I have long been active in community affairs. I have the experience and the ability to lead the Middlesex County Registry of Probate into an era of reform.

The rest of the non-BMG posting candidates after the flip….

I put together “Election Watch: Register of Probate” after conducting my own research about the candidates. A lot of the research came from postings on BlueMassGroup, local newspapers and anything else I could find on the Web. The site also contains links to news about the office as well as links to the Middlesex County Probate and Family Court Web site. Please visit the site at: http://www.medfordweb.com/regi… Im glad to see that there are actually a couple of well-qualified candidates for the job, including Tara DeCristofaro, Tom ConCannon and Katherine Triantafillou. Enjoy!

My right to marry may be taken away by popular vote in California this November, and I have something to say about that!  I’m heading down to San Jose to work with the Vote No On Proposition 8 campaign to help keep marriage legal for same-sex couples in California.

California Proposition 8 Ballot Language

ELIMINATES RIGHT OF SAME-SEX COUPLES TO MARRY.

INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT

Changes California Constitution to eliminate right of same-sex couples to marry. Provides that only a marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.

Fiscal Impact: Over the next few years, potential revenue loss, mainly sales taxes, totaling in the several tens of millions of dollars, to state and local governments. In the long run, likely little fiscal impact to state and local governments.

Confuse the voters. This from today’s State House News Service (sorry, can’t link to SHNS): DOG RACING GROUP TAKE NAME OF GROUP SUPPORTING RACING BAN A ballot question committee has formed to oppose Question 3, which bans dog racing, but the committee appears to have taken the name of an existing statewide non-profit dedicated to fostering collaboration of animal care professions and supportive of the ballot initiative. There’s another problem on Monday’s filing of the “Massachusetts Animal Coalition” – the group spelled its name the Massachessetts Animal Coalition. The group lists its chairman and treasurer as Jill Mead of Wellesley and Lynne Morin of Raynham as its “other officer.” Of course, dirty, underhanded tactics is all they’ve got. The tracks can’t win among the voters unless they confuse them. It’s really all they’ve got at this point, but I think the people are going to be able to sniff this out. Massachusetts voters don’t like dirty campaign tactics.  

He doesn’t know how many houses he has, and indeed he may not know how many cars either. Interestingly, he seems to think that buying a Volkswagen is “buying American.” Newsweek reports: McCain’s personal ride, a 2004 Cadillac CTS, is no gas sipper, but it should make Detroit happy because it’s made by General Motors. “I’ve bought American literally all my life and I’m proud,” McCain said in the interview with Detroit’s WXYZ-TV. But the rest of his fleet is not all-American. There’s a 2005 Volkswagen convertible in the garage along with a 2001 Honda sedan. Otherwise, there’s a 2007 half-ton Ford pickup truck, which might come in handy on the Sedona ranch; a vintage 1960 Willys Jeep; a 2008 Jeep Wrangler; a 2000 Lincoln; and a 2001 GMC SUV. The McCains also own three 2000 NEV Gem electric vehicles, which are bubble-shaped cars popular in retirement communities.

With the excitement of the primary elections now behind us, I wanted to take a moment to update the BMG community on my campaign for State Senate.

We have some terrific momentum going.  I recently announced the endorsements of nearly four dozen local elected officials representing all fourteen communities of the Middlesex & Worcester district.  I also had a great endorsement event in Marlborough with Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone and Worcester District Attorney Joe Early Jr.

Even with all of the great momentum, we won’t let up.  We will be campaigning hard all the way to Election Day – and we will need your help.  We have kicked into gear our “14 in 14 for 14 Challenge.”  Our goal is to raise $14,000 over the next 14 (well, now nine) days for my campaign to represent the 14 towns and cities of the Middlesex & Worcester district.  Please help us toward our goal with a contribution today!

Also, if you would like to volunteer for the campaign (phone banking, door-to-door canvassing, etc.), please let us know at volunteer AT JamieEldridge.com or at 978-929-2975.  As always, check our website – www.JamieEldridge.com – for news and updates from the campaign trail or to learn more about my background, accomplishments, and vision for the district.

Further, we have lots of exciting upcoming events.  I hope you can join us:

Much more after the jump!

(Cross-posted.)

Stirling Newberry is back at dkos with his first post in almost two years, with his usual dazzling array of information and commentary (though he has been contributing to The Agonist). He pulls us back and out to the extremely macroeconomic in order to make the point that the Bush-Paulson bailout is a complete confirmation of the status quo (despite looking like a backtracking from “free markets”) and that other, opposite measures would actually not only help us contain the damage in the shorter term, but also fix the structural stupidities that drove us here in the first place.

The Globe and Herald both report that Second Suffolk Sen. Dianne Wilkerson and Dem primary winner for the seat Sonia Chang-Díaz are going for a recount. Apparently when Wilkerson moved, Chang-Díaz also took out the papers.

The deal is that candidates can request the recount for any Ward they want. There are 10 in the Second Suffolk. The recount requires 50 voter signatures per Ward to kick in for that Ward. Not all need to be involved in the recount.

It's safe to assume that each candidate will make sure their strongest Wards are in the recount mix. That's a bit more work for Chang-Díaz. She topped in Back Bay, Chinatown, JP and South End areas. Wilkerson had her best returns in Dorchester and Roxbury. The neighborhoods don't map directly to Wards though. Chang-Díaz' are just a more geographically spread.

Normally, the margin of victory for the winner increases slightly. Out of almost 18,000 votes, Chang-Díaz won by 228 (9, 051 to 8,823). The first time these two faced off two years ago, she lost to Wilkerson in an all-sticker campaign by 767 votes short out of 12,933 after the recount.

In the likely outcome, the recount not reversing the victory, supposition is already in the air that Wilkerson would try a write-in, sticker or independent run.

Maureen Dowd taps Aaron Sorkin to pen an exchange between Jed Bartlet and Barack Obama on the state of the campaign… BARACK OBAMA knocks on the front door of a 300-year-old New Hampshire farmhouse while his Secret Service detail waits in the driveway. The door opens and OBAMA is standing face to face with former President JED BARTLET. BARTLET Senator. OBAMA Mr. President. BARTLET You seem startled. OBAMA I didn’t expect you to answer the door yourself. BARTLET I didn’t expect you to be getting beat by John McCain and a Lancôme rep who thinks “The Flintstones” was based on a true story, so let’s call it even. OBAMA Yes, sir. BARTLET Come on in. Makes me long for the days when we had a Democrat in the White House, either on TV or in reality.