Herald Can’t Make Up Mind About Markey

December 28, 2012

First today’s Boston Herald tells us this:

keating31Mr. Ed draws yawn in Senate horse race

Seriously, is this the best the Democrats can come up with? Ed Markey?

This is a guy who has been in Congress for 36 years — the ultimate Washington insider.

A guy who didn’t even own a home in his own district for the first 20 years of his career.

This is a career politician who has never had a serious re-election challenge in decades.

 

And etc.

Then the feisty local tabloid tells us this:

(Boston MA)112512) (Photo by Faith Ninivaggi)Republicans cheer ‘tired’ Ed Markey’s entry into election

U.S. Rep. Edward J. Markey became the first Bay State congressman to jump into the U.S. Senate special election yesterday, with an announcement that gleeful Republicans called a late Christmas gift for Republican Scott Brown.

“This is a huge positive for Scott Brown,” said GOP consultant Rob Gray, noting that Markey, in Congress for 36 years, is seen as a consummate insider. “This looks like the first in a series of non-bigfoot candidates that Democrats are putting forward.”

 

Or the last. To all appearances the Democratic establishment is trying to pull the ladder up behind Markey.

Here’s the Herald web piece:

2V0R1860.JPGKerry, Vicki endorse Markey in Senate race

U.S. Sen. John Kerry and Victoria Reggie Kennedy are giving their hearty backing to Congressman Ed Markey, who yesterday became the first Democrat to throw his hat in the ring in the race for Kerry’s seat — an indication of the eagerness of Bay State Dems to anoint a candidate swiftly and painlessly before what is expected to be a bruising battle with likely GOP nominee Scott Brow [sic].

 

Which still leaves this question for the Herald: Endorsements aside, is Markey drawing yawns or cheers?

Not that it really matters.

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Local Dailies Kerry On with Senate Speculation

December 16, 2012

It’s no secret that the Boston Globe and the Boston Herald inhabit entirely different political landscapes here in the Bay State.

Exhibit Umpteen: Their respective takes on who might succeed Sen. John Kerry (D-Reporting for Due-ty) if he gets what is widely regarded as a well-deserved nod for Secretary of State.

From Saturday’s Boston Globe piece by Glen Johnson:

A number of US House members, including Representatives Edward J. Markey and Michael Capuano, are also possible Democratic candidates in a special election.

 

From Friday’s much more expansive Boston Herald column by Howie Carr:

Picture 2

 

That’s what you now see when you try to access the Herald website. Except none of the links – Full Site, Basic Mobile Site, Get App – actually link (at least not at 1:39 Saturday morning).

Luckily, the hardtyping staff is one of the Herald’s up to 17 home delivery subscribers, so we can tell you that this is what Carr wrote:

Let’s go down the congressional list. Ed Markey’s wanted this seat since 1984, but he could never risk his safe seat, lest he lose and starve to death. One of his only jobs in the Dreaded Private Sector was driving an ice cream truck. Now Mr. Frosty will have a free shot.

Ditto, Mike Capuano. He’s morphed from an unrepentant Somerville hack into a twitchy, MoveOn mouthbreather. Remember his exhortations to his union thugs on the Common about spilling a little blood?

 

The hardguessing staff anticipates more than a little blood in what looks like an inevitable Senate bakeoff.

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Herald Scoops Globe on Mass. Dem Shenanigans

November 24, 2012

Special election rules in Massachusetts are the Silly Putty of legislation, taking whatever shape best suits the Democratic majority at the time.

Back in 2004, they eliminated a governor’s power to appoint replacements for U.S. Senate vacancies, the better to keep then-Gov. Mitt Romney’s mitts off John Kerry’s seat should he win the presidency. When one of their own returned to the corner office, state lawmakers gave back the power to appoint a temporary replacement.

Now they apparently want to give Gov. Deval Patrick the power to appoint a permanent replacement to serve out an interrupted term, the Boston Herald’s Hillary Chabot reports:

Whispers build of change to special election rules

Power-hungry Bay State Democrats — eyeing another potential Senate opening if U.S. Sen. John F. Kerry joins the Obama Cabinet— are quietly discussing reinstating a 2004 law that would let Gov. Deval Patrick appoint a permanent replacement to help keep the seat under party control until at least 2014.

“I think that would be preferable. It would certainly save the taxpayers money if they don’t have to pay for another election,” said Phil Johnston, former chairman of the Massachusetts Democratic Party.

“I think people are campaigned out. I think the governor is very popular and most voters would be happy to support his choice until the next general election,” Johnston added.

Not if the voters are David Bernstein, the intrepid political maven at the Phoenix. Here’s what he tweeted earlier today:

If history is any guide, shame will be the least important factor going forward.

 

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John Kerryoke’s Musical Chairs

November 13, 2012

It’s Post time at the local dailies in the race to cover the Obama administration’s national security team fire drill.

Both papers pick up a Washington Post story this morning. The Globe’s version, predictably, is lengthier.

Kerry may be choice for secretary of defense

Security shuffle follows Petraeus’s departure

WASHINGTON — President Obama is considering asking Senator John F. Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, to serve as his next defense secretary, part of an extensive rearrangement of his national security team that will include a permanent replacement for former CIA director David Petraeus.

Although Kerry is thought to covet the job of secretary of state, senior administration officials familiar with transition planning said that nomination will almost certainly go to Susan Rice, the US ambassador to the United Nations.

John Brennan, Obama’s chief counterterrorism adviser, is a leading contender for the CIA job if he wants it, officials said. If Brennan goes ahead with his plan to leave government, Michael Morell, the agency’s acting director, is the prohibitive favorite to take over permanently. Officials cautioned that the White House discussions are in the early phases and that no decisions have been made.

The Herald pickup is much shorter (and massaged by reporter Joe Dwinell), but it includes something the Globe doesn’t: The Great Mentioner.

If Kerry goes to Defense, the scramble for his seat would quickly move U.S. Sen. Scott Brown back into the picture, or possibly former Gov. William F. Weld, a fellow Republican. On the Democratic side, U.S. Rep Edward J. Markey has been mentioned as a possible candidate. State Attorney General Martha Coakley could also take another shot at higher office.

Let the wild Special Election Rumpus begin!

 

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