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The enthusiasm gap

This election, with Obama having stoked pennant fever in Denver, it is the Dems who have cornered the excitement market
The selection of gun-shooting, anti-abortion, creationist, doctrinaire conservative Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as John McCain’s vice-presidential nominee has finally got the GOP’s conservative base excited.

By: DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | September 03, 2008

RNC 2008 Wrap-Up

Protest-to-podium coverage of the Republican National Convention from our reporter in St. Paul

By: ADAM REILLY | September 05, 2008

Opening-night jitters

The DNC’s primary colors
The Democratic National Convention started off with a strange vibe that might be summed up in one word: restraint.

By: DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | August 28, 2008

Photos: Democratic National Convention 2008

Protest-to-podium coverage from Denver. Updated daily.

By: JOEFF DAVIS | August 31, 2008

Live from Denver

Election 2008: Real-time updates from the Democratic National Convention

By: DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | August 28, 2008

Women on the verge

Clinton die-hards have created a new-girls’ network bent on remedying decades of sexism by putting women in elected office
At next week’s Democratic National Convention in Denver, Hillary Clinton’s delegates will get just about everything they’ve wanted — aside from the nomination of their candidate, of course.

By: DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | August 20, 2008

The underdog

Sara Orozco thinks she can beat all-American GOP superstar Scott Brown. Can she convince anyone else?
Sara Orozco and Scott Brown, total opposites, are perfect candidates for a State Senate district with political bipolar disorder.

By: DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | August 13, 2008

Will race enter the race?

Dianne Wilkerson and Sonia Chang-Díaz don’t talk about the racial split in their Senate showdown, but it’s likely to make its mark
Two years ago, when Dianne Wilkerson inexplicably failed to submit the necessary signatures to get her name on the Democratic primary ballot for re-election as state senator, a 28-year-old upstart seized the opportunity.

By: DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | July 30, 2008

Senate shuffle

Massachusetts hasn’t had a Senate-seat vacancy in nearly 25 years. Now we may have two. Let the speculation begin.
Don’t count Ted Kennedy out just yet, but the prognosis immediately set minds thinking about the inevitable departure of Kennedy from the US Senate, where he has served since 1962.

By: DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | August 27, 2008

California matters

Massachusetts may have had gay marriage first, but California changes everything. Are Obama and Clinton listening?
For four years, and 10,000 same-sex nuptials, Massachusetts has had a monopoly on gay marriage in the United States.

By: DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | May 21, 2008

DiMasi’s sheep

How Stepford politics rule Beacon Hill
DiMasi’s overwhelming victory in the recent casino vote — in which only 34 of 140 Democrats voted against his plan to banish the bill for further study — was actually, as meager as it was, an unusual show of dissent.

By: DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | April 09, 2008

No side bets

The governor’s gaming legislation crapped out, but are casinos still alive in a compromise? Plus, a school-budget crisis could start a political firestorm.
Opponents of legalized gaming in Massachusetts are celebrating the death this past week of Governor Deval Patrick’s bill to license casinos, which was crushed by a seemingly decisive margin of more than two-to-one.

By: DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | March 26, 2008

Whither the GOP?

With Democrats in total control of state government, the Massachusetts GOP should be a rising voice of dissent. Instead, it seems more impotent than ever.
Ask people to name the leading voice of opposition on Beacon Hill these days, and you’re likely to be told House Speaker Sal DiMasi.

By: DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | March 19, 2008

Obama outside the Boom

The first political leader of my generation acts nothing like the rest of us — which might be how he’s gotten where he is
A year ago, when I saw Obama speak on the Durham campus of the University of New Hampshire, he did not sound the way he does now.

By: DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | March 05, 2008

IG Report on State Senate Prez takes a convenient dive

Fails to deal with tourism controversy
After a full year investigating a Boston Phoenix article about State Senate President Therese Murray, the state’s Inspector General released a report today finding “no evidence of impropriety” in the legislature’s awarding of $11 million worth of contracts for international-tourism marketing.

By: DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | February 15, 2008

Cash carousel

Many things changed this year on Beacon Hill, but not the power of the almighty dollar
Even though the dollar has taken an international whupping of late, there remains at least one place where the love of the greenback remains strong: Beacon Hill.

By: DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | January 30, 2008

Can Obama lasso the Bay State?

Once considered sure Clinton country, the Massachusetts primary is now a shootout
Nobody around here forgets that Deval Patrick swiped the gubernatorial nomination from the establishment-backed Tom Reilly.

By: DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | January 23, 2008

EXCLUSIVE: California gleaming

Romney gains on McCain in crucial Golden State contest; Clinton's lead holds steady
According to a poll obtained exclusively by the Boston Phoenix , Hillary Clinton leads Barack Obama by 11 percentage points in California.

By: DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | January 22, 2008

Madam Mayor Maureen?

While everyone was distracted by the New Hampshire primary, did City Council President Maureen Feeney step into the race for mayor?
This past week, with Bostonians’ attention focused on the presidential-primary drama north of the Massachusetts border, an opening salvo in the 2009 mayoral race may have been delivered.

By: DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | January 16, 2008

Clinton and Obama: Watch California

Golden state polls might shape the rest of the race
Round one to Barack Obama, round two to Hillary Clinton, and just like that the retail politics is over, and the national slugfest begins.

By: DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | January 10, 2008

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Live from St. Paul: real-time updates at thePhoenix.com/Election2008

More: DNC 2008

BLOGS

39 Million Watched McCain Last Night, Exceeding Obama's Total
Tote Board | September 05, 2008 at 4:20 PM

New surge in war movies
Outside The Frame | September 05, 2008 at 2:36 PM

Fourth time's the charmer for Darien Brahms
phlog | September 05, 2008 at 2:34 PM

What McCain Didn't Do
Talking Politics | September 05, 2008 at 11:25 AM

Sarah "Barracuda" Palin
phlog | September 05, 2008 at 10:27 AM