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Talking Politics

The Massachusetts Republican Party is undergoing massive disruption — or finding the right balance, depending on your view

Chaos theory
The stereotype of Massachusetts Republican State Committee members, at the local or state level, is of genteel, moneyed Brahmins discreetly delivering their contribution checks during a pleasant social gathering over wine and brandy.

By: DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | March 26, 2012

Democrats are gleeful over Mitt Romney’s bruising primary path, but Romney is still the fight Barack Obama doesn’t want

Bland ambition
Back in mid January, when the presidential primary season began and interest in the Republican candidates spread beyond the tight community of political junkies, Mitt Romney's previously untarnished reputation with the general public took a nasty turn.

By: DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | March 14, 2012

Great Scott

New polls show Scott Brown winning re-election to the Senate. That’s no accident; he’s been out earning it.
After months without new polling on the high-profile Massachusetts Senate race, four firms took the pulse of the race in February — all finding incumbent Republican Scott Brown ahead of presumed Democratic nominee Elizabeth Warren.

By: DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | March 07, 2012

All signs go for Joe

So far, the family mystique is working entirely in favor of Joe Kennedy III's Congressional bid — but recent events show how unpredictable Camelot can be
In his well-executed congressional-campaign launch two weeks ago, Joe Kennedy III took advantage of the intense media interest generated by his family bloodline to convey the message that he wishes to be viewed independently of those family ties.

By: DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | February 29, 2012

The Feds bus convicted former speaker Sal DiMasi to Worcester, sending Beacon Hill into a panic

Sal's baaaaaack!
For nearly a year and a half, Beacon Hill has been operating under the specter of the Massachusetts Probation Department patronage scandal.

By: DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | February 22, 2012

Mitt's Charlie Card

It's no surprise that Barack Obama would copy from Deval Patrick's re-election playbook. But why is Mitt Romney making Charlie Baker's mistakes?
Last week, Mitt Romney stood uncomfortably to the side as he accepted the endorsement of reality-show blowhard and occasional birther Donald Trump in Las Vegas.

By: DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | February 22, 2012

The Massachusetts legislature is the principal roadblock to putting the state's criminal-justice system on the right track

House of Incorrections
As you read this, Beacon Hill is debating a "three-strikes" crime bill, while waiting for the US Attorney's Office to hand down indictments in the scandal over patronage at the probation department.

By: DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | February 01, 2012

The Dr. Phil Years

Before she became a political phenomenon, Elizabeth Warren grew beyond academia to take her message to the public
The pundits and politicos have had a tough time analyzing Elizabeth Warren as a candidate in the coming race for US Senate with Republican incumbent Scott Brown.

By: DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | January 25, 2012

America's Next Top Kennedy

Joe III is the new Kennedy on the block, and his campaign for Congress inevitably has Bay Staters thinking of Camelot
We are all mere mortals, Massachusetts pols like to say, and they are Kennedys.

By: DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | January 18, 2012

Bus stopped?

The iconic campaign bus is no longer full of newspaper reporters writing for the folks back home. Are the political-junkie Web sites filling the void?
The media mob will have high-tailed it out of New Hampshire by the time you read this.

By: DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | January 11, 2012

LIVE UPDATES: Talking Politics covers the NH primaries

Fear and loathing in the Granite State, as we follow the 2012 campaign trail
Our operatives bring you live-on-the-ground dispatches, live from the Granite State.

By: DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | January 10, 2012

The Year Ahead in Mitt

Prepare yourself for 12 months — well, at least 11 — of watching our handsome, well-coiffed former governor
Here's a quick look at some key dates for Romney, and what you might want to keep an eye on when his face pops up on your TV screen. Remember, there's a lot at stake: if he wins, you get at least four more years of Mitt-watching.

By: DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | May 24, 2012

QUIZ: Candidate or Criminal?

Telling politicians from those in the pen isn't easy — just take their words for it
Of the 16 passages printed below, half were written or spoken by a 2012 Republican candidate for president. The other half were written by incarcerated criminals. Can you tell the difference?

By: DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | December 21, 2011

Night of the Living Newt

Mitt Romney has money, organization, and great hair — but Newt Gingrich has the nastiness Republicans have come to expect from top conservatives
Newt Gingrich held court earlier this week at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics (NHIOP) at Saint Anselm College, as a throng of local and national media swarmed to watch him participate in an event of his own creation.

By: DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | December 15, 2011

Brighton progressive Tim Schofield takes his third swing at public office

Last chance in Brighton
Tim Schofield's two previous campaigns for public office seemed to prove that being the progressive darling of Brighton is not a winning political niche.

By: DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | November 30, 2011

The Right To Occupy

Boston's 99-percenters head to court next week, perhaps with the future of the movement at stake
Occupy Boston and the City of Boston face each other in state superior court next week, for a hearing on the city's right to remove the protesters' encampment on Dewey Square .

By: DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | November 22, 2011

It's Mitt & Scott's Party Now

Scott Brown and Mitt Romney, preparing for the 2012 microscope, are installing a faithful friend at the State GOP
A longstanding rift between the high and low tiers of the Massachusetts Republican Party has widened in the past few years — and it's about to grow into a chasm over two views of the 2012 elections.

By: DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | November 16, 2011