“IF WE DON’T GET what we want … I am proud to shut down the government for border security, Chuck.” That, of course, was President Donald Trump in an unexpectedly televised Oval Office confrontation with now House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. No one but Donald Trump knows for certain why […]
Richard Parr
Posted inNews Analysis
Census politics
THE LATEST CENSUS population figures are out, and Massachusetts is keeping pace with national population growth. The state’s population grew to nearly 7 million people at a rate of 0.6 percent between July 2017 and July 2018. That’s the same rate as the nation as a whole. It’s also the fastest rate of growth in […]
Posted inNews Analysis
Seth Moulton and the shifting sands of polls
POLLING IS A SNAPSHOT in time. When times change, polls are a time capsule of the way it used to be. Perhaps no one better exemplifies the shifting sands of polls right now than Seth Moulton, who has led the apparently unsuccessful charge to block Nancy Pelosi from returning as Speaker of the House. The North […]
Posted inNews Analysis
Charlie Baker and the incredible vanishing gender gap
Charlie Baker has bridged the gender gap. Nationally, Democratic women are fleeing the Republican party, threatening to swing a host of offices to Democrats, while men still tilt right. But women here in Massachusetts prefer Baker over Democrat Jay Gonzalez by about the same margins as do male voters. This was by no means expected. […]
Posted inNews Analysis
On transgender rights, Massachusetts and Trump administration moving in opposite directions
“Transgender could be defined out of existence by Trump administration” read the headline on the New York Times story from Monday, reporting on a leaked memo that showed the Department of Health and Human Services was seeking to define gender on a “biological basis”. On Wednesday, the Justice Department argued to the Supreme Court that […]
Posted inNews Analysis
Can Ocasio-Cortez return the favor for Ayanna Pressley?
GOING INTO THE 7th Congressional District debate this week, Boston City Councillor Ayanna Pressley trailed the incumbent, Rep. Michael Capuano, by 13 points, according to the latest WBUR poll. The debate was less about issues than it was whether voters want experience or a new perspective in Congress. That’s in keeping with the polling: Only 19 […]
Posted inNews Analysis
Boston considers non-citizen voting
Voting is the core of democracy. But who gets to vote has been fraught with political disagreement since America’s earliest days. Recently, a series of decisions from the Supreme Court has loosened enforcement of voting rights in places with sometimes dubious track records. Those rulings, and continued talk of voter fraud from the administration, has […]
Posted inNews Analysis
Late Registration
Massachusetts is home to more than one hundred colleges and universities and is the birthplace of American democracy. (Yes, that’s right, Eagles fans.) Nonetheless, the State Supreme Judicial Court recently upheld a voter registration law that makes it harder for college students to vote in our state primary elections. The SJC upheld a rule requiring […]
Posted inGun ownership
Voters give green light on “red flag” gun law
Massachusetts House Speaker Robert DeLeo announced this week the House would take up the so-called “red flag” gun safety bill. The move ended months of speculation and growing pressure from outside the building. The proposed legislation would “allow a judge to temporarily seize guns from someone who might pose a danger to themselves and others.” Eight states […]
Posted inPolitics
Governor, Senate challengers struggle mightily in quest for attention
A half dozen would-be opponents to Senator Elizabeth Warren and Governor Charlie Baker are building their campaigns, crisscrossing Massachusetts, issuing press releases, hiring staff, making ads, and doing all the other things important statewide campaigns do. Nobody’s watching. So far the two top-of-the-ticket would-be blockbusters have been busts, as voters hit the electoral snooze button […]