Politics

Latest Articles

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 BERNSTEIN | February 08, 2012

'It's Halftime in America'

Plus, same-sex marriage's latest boost
Karl Rove is pissed off, and for once we can understand why.
By EDITORIAL | February 08, 2012

Getting the Ron-around

Checking in with presidential hopeful Paul
While fellow Republican hopefuls Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, and Rick Santorum fight it out in Florida, Ron Paul, dark-horse candidate and Constitutional fundamentalist, sallied forth along his unorthodox campaign trail, hitting states with upcoming caucuses rather than primaries.
By NICHOLAS SCHROEDER | February 01, 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

Local adjunct professors fight for their piece of the pie

Coming to the table
Even as Governor Paul LePage and others tout the importance of the community college system in Maine, the adjunct professors at Southern Maine Community College and the University of Southern Maine are without contracts.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | January 25, 2012

Obama's Vision: ''An America Built to Last''

Plus, Deval Patrick
By any measure, President Barack Obama's State of the Union speech would have been considered a political winner, but coming just one day after the Republicans' constipated Florida-primary debate, Obama scored an undeniable triumph.
By EDITORIAL | January 25, 2012

By | January 01, 0001

Mitt Romney's 2012 Gaffe Review

Big Fat Whale
Everyone's favorite awkward GOP candidate.
By BRIAN MCFADDEN | January 17, 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

Further adventures of my vegan dad

Failure
The return.
By KARL STEVENS | January 10, 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

The Making of Paul LePage, Part 1

Escaping Poverty; or, the Horatio Alger Years
Governor Paul LePage generated more controversy and negative press in his first year in office than most Maine politicians do in their entire careers.
By COLIN WOODARD | January 18, 2012

Medical marijuana 2.0

In a tough political environment, the movement weighs a tricky reinvention
The medical marijuana movement has always had to be nimble.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | January 11, 2012

Romney's secret formula

Don't be fooled — Mitt is the one
The Republican nomination thing may not be as complicated as the media is making it out to be, but it sure is fun.
By EDITORIAL | January 12, 2012

Going undercover in Gingrich's GOP primary operation

Newt Hampshire
The best way to comprehend the nuts and bolts of the American political machine is to work for it. And so I did. For Newt Gingrich.
By DAN MCCARTHY | January 12, 2012

By | January 01, 0001

Calling out 'three strikes'

Is the country's most notoriously failed law coming to the commonwealth?
Three nights before Christmas, hundreds of concerned citizens crammed into the St. James African Orthodox Church in Roxbury to address what one civil-rights activist calls "the most stunningly racist piece of legislation" to hit Massachusetts in decades.
By CHRIS FARAONE | January 05, 2012

Romney rambles on

Mediocre in the Midwest
Republicans are aflame with urgency about removing Barack Obama from the White House, but they just can't seem to get enthused about any of the available replacements.
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | January 05, 2012

How 'three strikes' legislation fails

A bad pitch
Despite evidence that "three strikes" mandatory sentencing laws don't work, are punishingly expensive for taxpayers, and make an already unfair criminal-justice system even more irrational and racist, the Massachusetts legislature seems hell-bent on enacting one.
By EDITORIAL | January 04, 2012

Stupid is equal-opportunity

Diverse City
To me, 2011 offered a buffet of publicly expressed stupidity, perpetuated by a broad swatch of races, genders, and ideological factions. Here are a few gems.
By SHAY STEWART-BOULEY | January 04, 2012

The GOP’s pride is showing; Chafee’s new chief; blame Iran!

A degrading scenario
Professional white man Mittens Romney edged out Rick Santorum by only eight votes in Iowa this week, with America's most prominent homophobe falling just short after a busload of his supporters got lost in a corn maze they visited en route to their farmhouse caucus.
By PHILLIPE AND JORGE | January 04, 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 | December 28, 2011