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DAVID S. BERNSTEIN

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Mrs. Warren goes to Washington

Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren’s credentials, support, and savvy make her almost untouchable — and she knows it.
Elizabeth Warren was the only senator on the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, aside from the chair and ranking minority, to show up at last Thursday's hearing on indexing the minimum wage to inflation.

By: DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | March 21, 2013

March Madness

Talking Politics
It's no surprise that the coming weekend's Saint Patrick's Day celebrations have become politically charged, given the extraordinary convergence of electoral events visiting South Boston.

By: DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | March 12, 2013

Labor's love lost

Talking Politics
Steve Lynch is winning back much of the union support that left him in 2009.

By: DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | March 08, 2013

After Markey, Get Set, Go

Talking Politics
It's a matter of political decorum: when an officeholder is running for higher office, you wait until the election has been won before publicly coveting the resulting vacancy.

By: DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | February 20, 2013

Red Blues: Scott Brown exposes the empty Massachusetts GOP bench

It wasn't just that Scott Brown announced he was not running in the special US Senate election — it was that it quickly became evident that he was not handing the job off to another Republican.

By: DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | February 15, 2013

Southie's last stand

A huge year in politics could see the next generation of South Boston political legends emerge — or get swept aside.
Twenty years since a Hyde Park Italian-American succeeded Ray Flynn, South Boston retains its public perception as the city's nexus of political power.

By: DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | February 12, 2013

The Oppositionist: John Connolly has fashioned himself into the mayor’s leading critic. Will he also be a candidate?

This week, as Tom Menino gave his State of the City address, Boston politicos scrutinized him carefully for signs that might foretell an end to his 20-year reign.

By: DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | February 01, 2013

Wheels on the Bus: Mass Transit

Few parts of Massachusetts government need additional spending as badly as transportation — or have as publicly visible deficiencies.

By: DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | January 25, 2013

Running Outside the Box

Congressman Ed Markey's announcement that he will run in the upcoming special election for US Senate was quickly followed by a choreographed show of institutional backing, from Vicki Kennedy, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, and even John Kerry, holder of the soon-to-be-vacated seat Markey desires.

By: DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | January 18, 2013

Budging Forward

Talking Politics
The nation has just suffered through fiscal-cliff negotiations that left nobody, on either side of the aisle, happy with the results or the process.

By: DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | January 11, 2013

After Kerry, who?

Talking Politics
As word circulated on Thursday, December 13, that Susan Rice was withdrawing her name from consideration for secretary of state, it was like a 2013 starting gun going off in Massachusetts.

By: DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | December 31, 2012

Death knell for the local GOP?

Obituaries for the Massachusetts Republican Party have been written many times — I've contributed several items to that genre myself.

By: DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | December 18, 2012

Smoke signals

Talking Politics
The Massachusetts Medical Society's strident opposition to medical marijuana helped prevent passage in the legislature, but could not defeat the ballot initiative.

By: DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | December 12, 2012

Lessons learned?

Talking Politics
I take the blackout as a sign that the universe wants these smart and savvy yet secluded and out-of-touch campaign elites to hold their tongues — and learn some lessons from what ordinary people have been trying, collectively, to tell them: that voters know more about the country's mood than the campaign strategists do.

By: DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | December 04, 2012

Meet the Freshman class

Through much of 2012, the local political media — myself included — were a bit distracted by the big-name, big-money campaigns of Mitt Romney, Scott Brown, and Elizabeth Warren.

By: DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | November 27, 2012

Him Again?

This was supposed to be the calm after the storm.

By: DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | November 21, 2012

The first Obama administration was a disappointment for progressives. What makes us think the second will be any different?

The fire this time
On LGBT rights, civil liberties, economic inequity, immigration, criminal justice, labor organizing, money in politics, and voting rights, the Obama administration let progressives down time and time again. And who's to say Obama's second term won't be the same as the first?

By: DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | November 16, 2012

Thrill and Agony

The vote totals that poured in through the state secretary's office November 6 provided one set of winners (Elizabeth Warren, John Tierney, Joe Kennedy III, medical marijuana) and losers (Scott Brown, Richard Tisei, medical suicide). But there were plenty of other victories and defeats in Bay State politics last Tuesday.

By: DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | November 14, 2012

The Gathering Storm

As I write this column, a campaign-weary Commonwealth awaits the end of a year-long, roughly $80 million Senate race that seems to have been on the front pages — and in every commercial break — for as long as we can remember.

By: DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | November 07, 2012

A Viewer’s Guide to Election Night

Our hour-by-hour breakdown
Nobody needs convincing of how much is at stake in Tuesday’s elections.

By: DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | November 05, 2012

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