Globe Beats Herald in Storm Front (Page) Bakeoff

February 8, 2013

The Boston Herald has long been a self-promotion machine, touting some coverage that led to government action or crowing about its inclusion in the Newseum’s Top Ten Front Pages on a particular day.

But not today, because that latter distinction belongs to crosstown rival Boston Globe.

How’s the Weather?

As the Northeast braces for a potential blizzard for the ages, front pages in that region are doing the same and preparing readers for the impact. AM New York offers a “Blizzard Survival Guide.” “Bracing for a big one,” The Boston Globe warns. Are newspapers still relevant? In times like these, they’re just as essential as milk, batteries, water and toilet paper.

 

The stately local broadsheet’s Page One:

Picture 1

 

The feisty local tabloid’s also-ran:

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Hey – win some, lose some. But the beauty of the daily bakeoff is, there’s always tomorrow.

Plow on, Heraldniks.

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Where’s the Boston Herald’s Review of ‘Jersey Boys’?

February 8, 2013

Jersey Boys – the long-running Broadway hit musical – has come to Boston’s Colonial Theater with mixed results at the local dailies.

Terry Byrne reviewed the production a week ago in the Boston Globe:

In ‘Jersey Boys,’ the songs tell the story

d Sherry Oct 12 - photo by Jeremy Daniel

Four voices, four stories, one thrilling sound. There’s no denying “Jersey Boys,” the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, now playing at the Colonial Theatre, follows the overused jukebox musical formula, but what makes this show rise above the others is that sound, and the four men who made it.

It’s easy to forget the number of hits the Four Seasons had, and how irresistibly toe-tapping those songs are. From “Sherry” and “C’mon, Maryann,” to “Rag Doll” and “You’re Just Too Good to Be True,” the writing team of Bob Gaudio and and Bob Crewe found delicious pop hooks that propelled the Four Seasons to the top of the charts throughout the 1960s. At the performance I saw, many in the audience not only tapped their toes, they sang along to every song. And what other musical can you name that has the crowd cheering at the arrival of a six-piece horn section?

“Jersey Boys” boasts a book written by Marshall Brickman (best known for his screenplays with Woody Allen) and Rick Elice (“Peter and the Starcatchers”), who lay out the rags-to-riches tale of four boys from just outside Newark in simple chronological order, but along the way, they carefully draw characters whose motives are clear and whose relationships are complicated.

 

In the end, though, “Jersey Boys” comes up short, Byrne says:

In this touring production, some of director Des McAnuff’s unimaginative staging shows through because there is unevenness among the performances, and Sergio Trujillo’s choreography looks forced rather than precise.

As a Jersey Girl myself, I might be overcritical, but Jacoby, whose bio says he’s originally from Boston, struggled to find an accent that sounded consistently like anything, let alone Jersey, and he also had some trouble staying on key while singing. Cosgrove, while he hit those high notes without hesitation, never locked in to the character of the honest guy who stayed loyal to his friends no matter what.

But “Jersey Boys” is about the Four Seasons’ music, and as the audience reaction showed, these songs stand the test of time.

 

The Herald, on the other hand, says . . . nothing.

What – is the feisty local tabloid waiting for the production to get better?

It’s not gonna, as they say in Jersey.

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Foxy Brown, Action Figure

February 7, 2013

Another crisscross in the local dailies as former Sen. Scott Brown (R-$$$) mulls over joining the madcap crew at Fox News. The Boston Globe front-pages it,; the Boston Herald relegates it to page 12.

From the feisty local tabloid:

AN3V5646.JPGJob may not be Foxy move for Scott Brown

While a talking head gig at Fox News could give former U.S. Sen. Scott Brown a running start, should he run for governor in 2014 — it could also prove to be a political albatross in the deep blue Bay State.

“It makes it tougher for him to run for governor, being a commentator on a conservative news network that’s not all that popular beyond Republicans in Massachusetts,” said Republican consultant Rob Gray.

A Fox News spokeswoman yesterday confirmed that Brown is in talks with the national network but would not detail what role the ex-senator would play. That announcement comes after Fox cut ties with former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and Clinton presidential adviser Dick Morris.

 

Scott Brown as Sarah Morris. We like that.

Crosstown, the stately local broadsheet liked it enough to plaster it Page One:

Picture 1

 

The Globe piece took the story beyond the Herald version and into an entirely new dimension:

Just days after he stunned the political world by announcing he was bowing out of contention for another Senate seat, Scott Brown made a return to the private sector, joining the board of a Massachusetts-based paper processing company and negotiating a possible deal to appear on Fox News.

A Fox spokesman confirmed Brown is in talks to appear on the network, which recently announced it is not renewing contracts with big-name political commentators Sarah Palin and Dick Morris. It was unclear, however, what role Brown might have on the network. Though Brown has told several Republicans that he will have a gig on Fox, the spokesman said the talks are not final.

Brown would not comment to the Globe. When reached Wednesday night, he said, “I am right in the middle of dinner,” and hung up the phone.

 

A hangup! The perfect frame of mind for working at Fox News.

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Herald Op-Ed: Mass. GOP = Gone Off Party

February 6, 2013

It’s a rare day when the local dailies crisscross, but count today as one of them: A liberal Boston Globe columnist puts on the pompoms for Bay State Republicans, while a conservative Herald thumbsucker goes all frowny-faced on them.

Start with Scot Lehigh’s piece in the stately local broadsheet.

07012011_0701oped_winslowFinally, Mass. GOP has some likely candidates

KUDOS TO Dan Winslow and Gabriel Gomez, the two Republicans in this state willing to join the race for US Senate.

Apparently willing, anyway.

On Tuesday, Winslow declared himself “about 99 percent” ready to run, while Gomez, a former Navy SEAL and pilot, is making the Republican rounds, telling people he’s very likely to as well. Although GOP panjandrums speak well of him, Gomez, a Cohasset businessman, remains largely unknown.

Not so Winslow. A former district court judge and chief legal counsel for Mitt Romney and now a state representative from Norfolk, he is a familiar face in political circles. Speaking to reporters outside the State House, Winslow took pains to stress that as a Massachusetts Republican — “a different kind of breed from the national Republicans” — he puts a premium on reaching across the aisle in search of commonsensical compromise.

 

There! Didn’t take long to kick the national GOP to the curb, did it?

But wait – Lehigh’s not done saying nice things about the could-be Republican candidates:

Make no mistake here. In their willingness to step forward, both Winslow and Gomez aren’t just helping the GOP. They are doing the entire state a favor. Massachusetts needs the clash of ideas that a competitive two-party system brings.

 

Before the celebrating starts, though, there’s Herald columnist Michael Graham’s entirely dyspeptic op-ed to consider.

GOP can’t win from the top down

Party usuals have made Senate race a long-shot

So the Massachusetts Republican party establishment may have finally found a candidate it can whole-heartedly support in the upcoming U.S. Senate race — and he supported Barack Obama in 2008.

Gabriel Gomez, a former Navy SEAL, was reportedly being promenaded around to the GOP bigwigs in Washington by local party boss Ron Kaufman. Kaufman is one of the political geniuses responsible for the Massachusetts GOP’s tremendous record of “success” the past 15 years.

Just a reminder of the GOP establishment’s record. Since 2000, they’ve lost every single statewide general election except one — the fluke-election of Mitt Romney in 2002.

 

And Scott Brown too, Graham says, but no thanks to the party establishment.In fact, he calls the state GOP bosses “the Washington Admirals of American politics” (the headscratching staff thinks he means the Washington Generals, but we could be wrong). Regardless, Graham insists “there is no Massachusetts GOP.”

Not for lack of Graham’s trying, though. The most intriguing sentence in his piece is this:

Right now, more than half the Republicans in the state House of Representatives are graduates of the free, all-volunteer campaign schools my Herald colleague Holly Robichaud and I have hosted the past few years.

 

Really? Is that what newspaper columnists do these days? Graham and Robichaud aren’t Herald staffers, but if they’re going to be regular columnists, shouldn’t they be held to the same standard? Oh, wait – this is the Herald, which  has no problem with staff columnists headlining political fundraisers (See Media Nation and the Googletron).

So . . . never mind.

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Gronk: Giving New Meaning to Tight End

February 5, 2013

Patriot party boy Rob Gronkowski is all over the place – literally and figuratively – these days. Except, that is, at the Boston Globe. The stately local broadsheet has a small item buried in today’s Names column.

Picture 3

 

The feisty local tabloid, though, really goes to town today. Start with the back page:

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Inside, Karen Guregian gives Gronk a big helping of what-for:

STON2744.JPGTime for Rob Gronkowski to cut out some antics

Not such a grand slam

Rob Gronkowski is a 23-year-old single male who loves to have fun and provide entertainment for the masses. The Gronk is a party animal. That’s no secret.

Taken at face value, it’s hard not to appreciate and enjoy someone who so thoroughly enjoys life.

But then you watch the TMZ video of the Patriots tight end at the XS nightclub in Las Vegas on Sunday night, dancing shirtless on stage and lifting up a presumed friend and slamming him to the ground, wrestling-style.

This might seem like harmless fun, except Gronkowski was using his recently re-repaired broken left forearm to help hoist his friend up and over. According to a source close to Gronk, he didn’t appear to do any more harm to the forearm, which was in a long black cast.

But you still have to sit back and wonder what he was thinking.

 

Probably nothing, which seems to be his strong suit.

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Boston Herald’s Outside Track: Holly & Scott Tear the Sheets

February 4, 2013

Our feisty local tabloid’s Lone Republican needs a plus one.

Herald columnist Holly Robichaud goes through a very public breakup with former Sen. Scott Brown (R-Pickup and Go) today, right on Page One:

Picture 1

 

And Holly doesn’t mince words in her column:

scottbrowncutoutOur honeymoon with Scott Brown just ended

I hate to speak ill of fellow Republicans, but there is no good way to spin that the GOP has been left in the lurch by former U.S. Sen. Scott Brown’s backing out of the special election. With less than 23 days to get 10,000 certified signatures for the ballot, the timing of his decision is like leaving a bride at the altar.

Republicans already face a well-known uphill battle because of voter registration, finance and organizational deficits along with a media bias. Declining to run would have been perfectly acceptable for Brown 60 or even 30 days ago, but by waiting until now he puts our candidate at a huge disadvantage.

What about all the people who stood out in the cold and rain, made thousands of calls and gave up their weekends to knock on thousands of doors? What about the party that has given millions of dollars? What about U.S. Sen. John McCain, who helped orchestrate Anchors-Aweigh John Kerry’s appointment as secretary of state?

 

Well, at least they’re rid of Kerry.

But don’t put Robichaud next to Michael Graham at your next dinner party – not after he wrote this on today’s op-ed page:

BrownSketch 12Brown’s bowing out clears path to future

Get back to Republican roots

Finally! Some good news for the Massachusetts GOP: Scott Brown isnot running for the U.S. Senate.

Why is that good?

It’s not because I don’t like Scott Brown. He’s a great guy and did a good job truly representing Massachusetts — as opposed to Ed Markey, who will do nothing more than represent the indigenous moonbat population.

But another Scott Brown run would have been a mistake, for him and for the party.

 

Graham goes on to list all the reasons it would have been a mistake, which you can check out if you care.

Just don’t tell Holly.

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Leone’s Share of Sunday’s U.S. Senate Coverage

February 3, 2013

The Boston Herald got the jump on the latest candidate to consider jumping into the U.S. Senate race to replace clearly departed John Kerry (D-Empty Seat).

Joe Battenfeld’s column today:

DSC_0648.JPGLeone could be spoiler in race

Three’s a crowd for Lynch, Markey

U.S. Rep. Ed Markey and the Democratic establishment did not see this surprise coming.

Their plans to intimidate other Democrats from joining the special U.S. Senate election didn’t work, and now Middlesex District Attorney Gerard T. Leone’s possible entry into the race threatens to make it a three-way fight they wanted to avoid.

Leone’s disclosure, first reported on bostonherald.com, that he is seriously considering jumping into the race, could damage Markey’s campaign and leave the door open for either Leone or U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch to win the primary.

 

Later in the piece Battenfeld writes, “Leone’s surprise comments about running came on the same day Markey was officially launching his campaign across the state, and ended up overshadowing the Malden congressman’s events.”

That’s certainly true from a newspaper real estate standpoint. Leone got all of page 5 in today’s Herald.

Picture 1

 

Lynch and Markey got the next two:

Picture 2

 

Crosstown at the Boston Globe, Leone also scored prime real estate – Metro Page One. From the dead-tree edition:

DA may now run for seat in Senate

Leone had said he was leaving public service

Middlesex District Attorney Gerard T. Leone Jr. is giving “serious consideration” to running in the special US Senate race to fill John Kerry’s seat, he said Saturday.

Leone, 50, said he has received encouragement from friends and political allies to jump into the Democratic primary campaign — a race that already has two Massachusetts congressmen, Edward J. Markey and Stephen P. Lynch, battling for the party nomination. The primary will be held April 30.

“People I have a great deal of respect for have asked me to look at the race,” Leone said. “I will give it serious consideration, but my intention, as I announced last month, has always been to leave electoral politics.”

 

Yes, well, the road to “Hello, Senator” is paved with good intentions.

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Brown Out, The Great Mentioner In

February 2, 2013

Now that former Sen. Scott Brown (R-$$$) has dropped out of the running for the upcoming special election for U.S. Senate, the local dailies are putting forth very – wait for it – different lists of potential fill-ins.

The Boston Globe wins the coveted Ya Think? award with this headline on its lead editorial:

Mass. Republicans should move to fill void left by Brown

 

In the Globe’s news section, the Great Mentioner rounds up the usual suspects:

The GOP is suddenly grasping for alternatives, hoping to press into service known figures such as former governor William F. Weld, former lieutenant governor Kerry Healey, or Richard R. Tisei, the former state Senate minority leader.

 

But then the GM tosses in a couple of unusual suspects:

State Representative Daniel Winslow, a Norfolk Republican, said he will also take the next few days to consider a potential run. Gabriel E. Gomez, a wealthy businessman and a former Navy SEAL and fighter pilot from Cohasset, said he is very likely to get into the race.

 

Crosstown at the Herald, meanwhile, they’re living in an entirely different universe, as today’s Page One attests (via The Newseum’s Today’s Front Pages):

MA_BH

 

That inset at the lower right refers to Brown’s first announcing his decision in a text message (“U r the first to know I am not running”) to Herald columnist Howie Carr. The rest of the front page? Yikes.

But the Herald goes all in with a two-page spread:

Picture 1

 

For the feisty local tabloid, what’s the only thing better than Scott Brown running for U.S. Senate?

Scott Brown not running for U.S. Senate.

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Herald the Lynchpin for Rep’s U.S. Senate Run

February 1, 2013

If today’s edition is any indication, the Boston Herald will be Stephen Lynch’s in-House organ during his run to replace departing U.S. Sen.  John Kerry (D-Empty Seat).

The feisty local tabloid has one news report (“Some unions already on Lynch’s side”), two columns, and an editorial about Lynch – most all of it positive.

Representative sample: Peter Gelzinis’ column.

STU_8221.JPGWorking-class hero Steve Lynch has got the goods

Steve Lynch was exactly where he wanted to be yesterday afternoon — standing in an ironworkers’ hall, around the corner from the housing project where he grew up, and poised to mount an underdog challenge against a fading political relic.

It’s a place Lynch knows all too well.

Almost 20 years before the bishops of the state Democratic Party blessed Ed Markey’s desire to succeed John Kerry, Steve Lynch ended the dynasty of an emperor named William Bulger.

 

Music – and hearts – swell.

The editorial sounds a similar note:

Defying Beltway dictators

Whatever the future holds for U.S. Rep. Steve Lynch, the people of Massachusetts owe him a huge debt of gratitude for bringing a modicum of small-d democracy back to the Democratic Party.

“All politics is local,” the late U.S. House Speaker Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill was fond of saying — and so it should always be here.

But when the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee starts dictating from Washington who should be running in the Massachusetts primary, well, it’s time candidates and voters need to push back.

 

Enter Steve Lynch, representing the people’s wing of the Democratic Party.

Only Wayne Woodlief’s op-ed piece hits a downbeat note.

Lynch faces uphill fight to replace Kerry

South Boston-bred U.S. Rep. Steve Lynch’s entry yesterday into the special Democratic primary for John Kerry’s Senate seat may well give U.S. Rep. Edward Markey of Malden, the odds-on favorite for the April 30 showdown, a sparring partner, not a stumbling block, for the June 25 special election final.

Sure, Lynch, who announced at a union hall in Southie yesterday, is an ex-ironworker (though it’s been a couple of decades since he strapped on those work boots) and is a favorite of many “regular guys.” But there’s no way he can match the money Markey already has raised ($3 million in the till and counting) and find enough to pay for the ads and staff and other costs for an election in just three months.

 

Then again, if Boston Mayor Tom Menino (D-I’m Still Standing) throws in with Lynch, he could make it interesting. Especially with the Herald already on board.

P.S. Crosstown at the Globe, op-ed columnist Scott Lehigh takes Lynch down a peg:

Lynch . . . is someone who goes small on big votes. Take, for example, Obamacare. He voted for the original House legislation, against the final bill on the crucial vote, then in favor of the reconciliation legislation essential to its passage. The explanation Lynch offered for that transparent attempt to have things both ways didn’t just strain credulity, but left it in shreds.

He also went small on the bank bailout. Voting no, as he did, was easy — and yet, many experts will tell you that without the federal infusion of cash, our entire financial system would have frozen up, with devastating consequences.

 

Expect more of that in the future.

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Globe Op-Ed Page Plays Hardball with Boston Herald

February 1, 2013

From our Late to the Party desk

Wednesday’s Boston Globe op-ed page featured a piece by sports economist Andrew Zimbalist spanking former Red Sox manager Terry Francona for criticizing the Sox owners in his new book as being more interested in money than the game of baseball.

Zimbalist calls Francona’s narrative “as unconvincing, as it is, at points, nasty, petty, inaccurate, and unfair.” That’s not the only thing that’s unfair in this piece. Here’s how it starts:

10232011_1023oped_vennochi-8075467Francona’s petty payback to Sox owners

IN “FRANCONA, the Red Sox Years,” Terry Francona, with the aid of Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy, has given us his version of his eight years in Boston. They were very successful years for the team — two World Series victories, six trips to the playoffs. Presumably, Francona should get at least some of the credit for this success, though it is not clear how much.

The problem for Francona is that it all ended with the September swoon in 2011 and many seem to blame him. Francona, after all, reportedly had a wild year — a marital separation, a painkiller problem, and then the incident reported by Bob Hohler in the Globe of Jon Lester, John Lackey, and Josh Beckett drinking beer, eating fried chicken, and playing video games in the clubhouse during games. The inevitable, and seemingly reasonable, inference was that Francona had lost control of the team.

 

Wait a second. As best the hardreading staff recalls, the Boston Herald’s John Tomase broke the beer-and-chicken story.

C’mon, Globies. Credit where credit’s due.

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