This week, the Civil Society Institute released survey results that showed 82 percent of people in Massachusetts approved of Cape Wind, which would install wind turbines in Nantucket Sound. The news came out just as Cape Wind supporters were pushing for US Rep Ed "Biz" Markey to publicly back the project. {They are not lobbying Senator Ted Kennedy, who, in a fit of NIMBYism, has opposed the project from the get-go because Nantucket Sound is......

Bostonist has always been a little creeped out by Kerry Healey, icy ex-lieutenant governor and former gubernatorial candidate. She is best known for staying politely in Mitt Romney's shadow during his stint as governor and for getting into madcap verbal spats with rival Christy Mihos during the governors' debates. (Seriously, their fights were comic gold.) Healey lost for many reasons. For starters, the victor, Deval Patrick, was dynamic, whereas Healey had all the pizzazz of......

Bostonist had the wonderful luck to talk to some big-time talents in all fields this year. And, no, we're not sure how we tricked these people into talking to us. Here's a look back: Authors Diane Rapaport, The Naked Quaker, 11/20 Jonah Lehrer, Proust Was a Neuroscientist, 11/13 John Fulton, The Animal Girl, 10/22 Jonathan Messinger, Dollar Store Series and Hiding Out, 10/9 Shalom Auslander, Foreskin's Lament, 10/9 Steve Almond, Not That You Asked, 9/11......

-- Buy Nothing Day turnout was discouragingly high. Retailers worry that consumers will not continue not to buy nothing. -- Red Sox season ticket holders are scumbag profiteers shrewd financial wizards who sell tickets they don't own yet. -- “Mitt Romney is throwing this very capable judge under the bus for his own political ends,” said Ed Ryan, head of a Massachusetts bar association task force on fair and impartial courts. “It is gutless.” --......

Bostonist has followed the Cape Wind story intently ever since reading Wendy Williams and Robert Whitcomb's book on the subject. The Cape Wind plan, which would install turbines in Nantucket Sound, would make an excellent source of alternative energy. But residents--particularly wealthy residents who don't want their views blocked by turbines*--have gone to unbelievable lengths to block the project at every angle. The Cape Wind opponents scored another point in the battle on Thursday. The......

Mayor Menino has gone so green that he might end up looking like Kermit the Frog. First Menino laid out his plan to improve life for cyclists in the city, and now he's drawing inspiration from Cape Wind by proposing wind turbines for City Hall Plaza. The Globe reported on Saturday that the mayor wants a single turbine that can "generate up to one-quarter of the electricity used at City Hall." Globe writer Peter Howe......

Now that it's fall and writers are stepping out for tours, we'll be offering a spotlight on the best of the week's readings. You'll still see book reviews and interviews with authors, but "Authorial Intent" will help you get the jump on tickets so you don't wind up out in the cold. Also, it's impossible to read everything, so please e-mail Bostonist if "Authorial Intent" misses anything. Thursday, September 6, 7:00 pm, Robert Whitcomb and......

We interviewed former gubernatorial candidate, businessman, and man-about-the-state Christy Mihos. Mihos has taken an active role against Cape Wind, the proposal to install wind turbines in Nantucket Sound, and he has offered an alternate proposal to install wind turbines at his chain of convenience stores. We told him up front that we were pro-Cape Wind, but we've run a lot of pro-Cape Wind posts, and we wanted to give him equal time to talk about......

So yelled Daily Show correspondent Jason Jones when he stopped a kid from flying a kite on a Cape beach. Jones' investigation into the protest against Cape Wind, the project to build wind turbines in Nantucket Sound, revealed exactly why so many powerful people want to stop the project. The powerful people could have talked to him, but he and author Wendy Williams discovered that not just anyone can get close to the Kennedy Compound,......

Christy Mihos - former wild-card candidate for governor, best known for running an animated ad showing Big Dig officials sticking their own heads up their butts – is co-chair of the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, the group that vociferously opposes Cape Wind. Recently, it looked like Mihos was stepping up to the plate with an actual alternative to the original Cape Wind plan, which would put turbines in Nantucket Sound. He volunteered the sites......

What isn't there to love about our fine city's local newscasters? They ride bulls. They get praised by Hustler. And they even fight with each other! Two WHDH newsmen got into a rumble right in the middle of Deval Patrick's apology for pimping his car and almost sticking us with the bill. You'd think they wouldn't fight because they are on the same team, but Andy Hiller got into Sean Hennessey's shot, and the professionalism......

Politicians have many talents - talking a long time without saying anything, convincing people to give away large sums of cash, and throwing lavish parties. Singing isn't usually considered their strong suit. That didn't stop NECN from pulling together several Massachusetts politicians to sing the "12 Days of Christmas" in a hilarious, largely tone-deaf montage. Big guns like Ted Kennedy, Mayor Menino, and Deval Patrick good-naturedly sang their hearts out. Mitt Romney even turned out......

Massachusetts political junkies didn't have an excuse to stay up late because the governor's race was over before it began. Democratic candidate Deval Patrick was projected as governor before the polling places closed. It was hardly a race. Patrick pummeled, pounded, and then mopped the floor with the competition. Anyone hoping for a little political drama was quickly disappointed, and they had to look elsewhere for suspense. The big losers were Republican gubernatorial candidate......

This Bostonist would be the first to admit to chiding Green/Rainbow gubenatorial candidate Grace Ross for her earth-mother fashion sense and her mullet. But how a person's appearance should have absolutely no connection to how a person does her job. John DePetro of WRKO clearly did not get that memo. DePetro got fired for calling Grace Ross a "fat lesbian" on the air after the last debate. He said, "Will somebody tell that fat......

Bostonist has never made pretensions of conservatism, and it won’t take much to guess whom (this) Bostonist is voting for in a week and a half. Because of that, we don’t expect people to care if we take time out of our busy schedule to debunk things that Kerry Healey and her supporters say. Also, with Christy Mihos and Grace Ross running quixotically for governor, Healey has enough higher-profile-than-us detractors already. But damn it, if......

If you're running out of ideas for clever Halloween costumes, look no further than Wednesday night's gubernatorial debate. With a few well-chosen props, you too can endorse (or mock) the four larger-than-life personalities vying to be governor. Kerry Healey: You need a suit and a blonde wig. Take that wig, and shellac the heck out of it – preferably outdoors – with some Aqua Net. If it won’t move in a stiff wind, you’re......

While Bostonist preferred the first gubenatorial debate in which Independent Christy Mihos and Republican Kerry Healey practically got into a knock-down, drag-out catfight, last night's debate at Faneuil Hall followed a more classic debate model, in which the candidates sent out messages that worked on an explicit and a subliminal level. Explicitly, the politicians appeared to focus on the needs of the people. Subliminally, Republican Kerry Healey's reputation as an animatronic aristocrat was sealed.......

The good news about last night's gubernatorial debate in Springfield was that the moderators and the panelists had the opportunity to remind the candidates that there's more to Massachusetts than Boston. The debate was also a more tasteful affair with a moderator – Jim Madigan of WGBY-TV - who seemed to relish telling people to settle down. The bad news was that the debate wasn't nearly as exciting. The main goal was to keep Independent......

Last night's Massachusetts gubernatorial debate was almost as much fun as a pro-wrestling cage match. Right from the start, the debate promised to be a good one. The moderator was none other than the pugnacious and cadaverous Chris Wallace, who recently got his comeuppance from Bill Clinton during an interview for Fox News. The opening credits also made it sound like each candidate was a prizefighter. All the audience needed was for the candidates to......

It didn't take long after the primaries for one of the gubernatorial candidates to aim below the belt - literally. In a cartoon ad that is airing only after 10 pm, Independent candidate Christy Mihos walks up to some stuffed shirts and asks the question, "Hey, how did the Big Dig get 12 billion dollars over budget?" Instead of dissembling or blame-throwing, the stuffed shirts promptly stick their heads up their behinds, encouraging voters to......

We knew Deval Patrick was in the race last year – he threw his hat in early. If it weren't for that pesky Romney character we would have known Kerry Healey was in the race earlier. After primary voting yesterday it finally became clear who the front-runners in the race for Governor would be. Deval Patrick picked up 50% of the democratic primary vote to beat out his challengers Chris Gabrieli and Tom Reilly. There......

As Bostonist loves to remind our dear readers, there is a race for governor going on in this Commonwealth. We realize you'd rather focus on baseball and American Idol, but damn it, we're highbrow. As you may have heard, there was a gubernatorial debate last night, featuring democrats Chris Gabrieli, Tom Reilly, and Deval Patrick, and the independent Christy Mihos. Bostonist listened to the debate on the radio and our feeling was, "meh." But we're......

First of all, Bostonist wants to make something crystal clear: This review is not an endorsement or critique of Mr. Patrick's campaign. This is simply a review of a podcast being used by a candidate in the upcoming gubernatorial election. With that out of the way, we think it’s interesting that a couple of the candidates are attempting to embrace podcasting as a way to mobilize their grassroots campaigns. Deval Patrick is certainly not the......

Although Bostonist has been pretty oblivious to the 2006 Mass. gubernatorial race thus far, a story in the Globe couldn’t help but reel us in. Apparently independent candidate Christy Mihos didn’t realize that when someone said a life in politics was for the dogs, they weren’t exactly advising him to get his favorite pooch involved in his campaign. Mihos isn’t just using his best pal, Reagan, as a photo-op but actually giving him a commanding......

Hey, remember the governor's race? It's still as inscrutable as ever. Just as jilted, wealthy, almost-lieutenant-governor-candidate-for-the-Democrats Chris Gabrieli is now trying to run on his own, disgruntled, wealthy Republican Christy Mihos is entering the race as an independent. Republican frontrunner Kerry Healey is naturally peeved, as she had hoped Mihos would vie with her (and ultimately lose) in the primary. What Bostonist can't understand is what, precisely, Mihos brings to the table that will attract......

The funny thing about Massachusetts politics, Bostonist has found, is that even when we are distracted by exciting stuff like the repatriation of accused murderers/internet smut-peddlers/would-be patrons of escort services, the internecine squabbles keep cooking along. So as you spend the long weekend in reverent remembrance of Presidents Washington and Lincoln, don't forget that today is also the 385th anniversary of the election of the first military captain of Plymouth Colony. With that in mind,......