Keeping the chitlin' circuit alive in the land of the bean and the cod

After the occupation

This Just In

City Elections

Forry and Collins both backed Baker, and all three are part of a growing cadre of newer Boston pols who are crossing traditional lines to support one another. Furthermore, some are growing increasingly antagonistic toward a mayor who wants them to line up where he wants them.

Pressley's election-night celebration became a gathering of those New Boston pols — Collins, Forry, Arroyo, Connolly, Tito Jackson, Carlos Henriquez, Aaron Michlewitz — and the remarkably diverse supporters who helped elect them.

They are operating in a city now largely devoid of the polarizing political leaders that dominated Boston politics for so long. There are no more Chuck Turners or Dianne Wilkersons on ballots, nor are there Jimmy Kellys or Louise Day-Hickses.

That's not to say race, neighborhood, and ethnicity don't matter in Boston any more. But it does mean that pols who rely on those factors are at a fatal disadvantage, even in low-turnout elections. Much of that change is a direct result of the efforts of the city's most popular politician, Tom Menino — who seems to be lagging behind the progress he helped bring.