UMass exit poll shows Coakley and Baker about equally distant ideologically from median voter, with Baker’s victory hinging on his performance with moderates, Independents, and women.

Howie Carr referred to transitional assistance recipients yesterday as “leeches”, the same word used in the past to describe the Irish and Latinos. Bigoted rhetoric doesn’t change, just the targets.

Among the many reasons former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney had to smile on election night 2014 was the ascension of Charlie Baker to Romney’s former office.  Those most interested in another Romney run will want to model Baker’s path from defeat to renomination to victory.

Massachusetts Senate Republicans want Governor Patrick to fire Jonathan Gruber from the Health Connector Board because he said voters were stupid, which they argue, will only perpetuate distrust in government. They also want him gone because he is an advocate “for an ideology founded in deceit” that “should have no place in our government.”Globe ArticleSince the majority of Massachusetts voters (not to mention Massachusetts state senators) subscribe to this ideology, it seems clear that these Senate Republicans aren’t any more impressed with the intelligence of voters than is Gruber.

Is the Catholic Church back as a powerful political force in Massachusetts? Its defeat of the 2012 Death with Dignity referendum suggests a new sophistication.

The Massachusetts Department of Higher Education reports that food pantries on our public campuses are often necessary because students in the Commonwealth face the dilemma of paying for tuition and paying for a meal.  This is not a uniquely Massachusetts problem but we are sadly unique in how deeply felt the problem is here.

From introductory texts in American Government through well-developed theories of democracy students of politics ask, Who rules? Two political scientists have the answer, and you won’t like it.

Perhaps conservatives should show greater appreciation of President Obama. After all, he based his new policy of acceptance for undocumented arguments by making conservative arguments.

Massachusetts residents love Beantown but understandably resent it when their own roads, infrastructure needs, and other projects run a perpetual, and distant, budgetary second place. A Boston Olympics will only exacerbate this trend.