Now that the major political parties have (pretty much) settled on their presidential nominees, Bostonist has decided to take a look at a vital aspect of election strategy: t-shirts. We really wanted to be fair and balanced in our assessment, and not in a Fox News way, but having perused both candidates official stores and the many user-generated slogans at CafePress, we have to say: Barack Obama is the clear winner of the design......

--As if it couldn't get any worse for the MBTA. Hackers have been playing with the Charlie Card. [Boston Herald] --The owner of Tai Ho Restaurant, where Boston firefighters Paul Cahill and Warren Payne died, wants to reopen. It's worth remembering that the fire gathered in the ceiling because grease accumulated in the vents. [WBZ] --A task force has decided, after much back and forth, to take down the homemade signs on highways thanking......

It's not often that a musician can, with one letter, slam both a presidential candidate and an former bandmate. But apparently Tom Scholz is out to remind us that he's not your average longtime bassist rocker. Scholz, of Boston (the band) fame, recently sent a letter to Mike Huckabee to express his "shock" and displeasure over the politician's use of the Boston song "More Than a Feeling." When we began to read the letter, we......

Is it even an argument at this point? Boston's Mayor Menino caused the Patriots' loss by planning the city's victory party a little too early and much too transparently. Last Wednesday, well before the unthinkable happened, the Herald was already proclaiming, "Tommy, you might as well have suited up for the hated Giants." While the mourning (and the blame game) continues, political life must also go on. With the Massachusetts primary being held tomorrow, the......

It seems that Bostonist's call for submissions inspired you. Say hello to Gerard Sloan, who is already working the political beat! And we hope you'll meet more writers in the next week. Interested in joining the team? Read our call for columnists and e-mail jobs@bostonist.com. Despite polls showing large leads for Barack Obama in the Democratic primary, the Granite State used its moment in the national spotlight yesterday to give Hillary Clinton a narrow victory......

Don't cry, Hillary. No, seriously, don't. You probably already heard that Hillary Clinton cried at a campaign event (Globe), and it took Bostonist a while to process. When a woman in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, asked Clinton how she stayed so upbeat, Clinton started crying and said (among other things), "It's not easy. It's not easy. This is very personal for me. It is not just political. It is not just public. I see what's happening.......

Don't cry, Hillary. No, seriously, don't. You probably already heard that Hillary Clinton cried at a campaign event (Globe), and it took Bostonist a while to process. When a woman in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, asked Clinton how she stayed so upbeat, Clinton started crying and said (among other things), "It's not easy. It's not easy. This is very personal for me. It is not just political. It is not just public. I see what's happening.......

--The following falls more in the "Don't Panic" category instead of the "Blotter" category. If you stuck a TV set on top of a light pole at the corner of Main Street and Bishop Allen in Cambridge this morning, the Cambridge Police Department would like to have a word with you. You caused quite the freak-out. [Cambridge Chronicle] --The Christmas tree at the State House is covered blue light-emitting diodes," which conserve energy. However, the......

Is there a Republican in your life that you really love? Or a Democrat you love to hate? Get them the perfect holiday present by going--we're not kidding--holiday shopping with former Massachusetts governor and presidential aspirant Mitt Romney. The following gifts are available for the Mitt-lover in your life: $50: Signed Romney family photo (it's probably large for obvious reasons) and mugs $100: The above, plus a Romney for President ornament and signed recipes......

Taking a cue from New Hampshire and just about every other state, Governor Deval Patrick has signed a bill that sets the Massachusetts presidential primary on Tuesday, February 5. The date change sets the state's primary on "Super Tuesday" so we're not lagging behind all the other cool states who always got to vote first (take that, Connecticut!). Massachusetts residents will no longer feel defeated voting after the know-it-all pundits are already calling the Democrat......

Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick has endorsed Democrat Barack Obama for president. He made the leap early, and it's a little surprising given that Patrick worked for the Clinton Administration. Obviously, Patrick is a plum catch for any politician running for office. A good word from him can mean a lot. Patrick's decision gives Obama access to the Massachusetts political treasure chest and gives him a publicity boost for the primaries in New Hampshire. It also......

While Mitt Romney might be hugely relieved, Boston NBC affiliate WHDH put a little (D) by Idaho Senator Larry Craig's name when replaying portions of Craig's Tuesday night interview with Matt Lauer: One can only imagine what Democrats would have to say about that: "Nuh-uh! He's not one of ours! No thanks!" Most likely someone in the WHDH control booth was sleepy, and they figured Craig was a Democrat because Romney's not friends with him......

Democrat Niki Tsongas won today's race to replace Rep. Marty Meehan in the Fifth Congressional District. Tsongas, who was backed by some serious Democrat firepower, defeated Republican Jim Ogonowski. Ogonowski put up a fight when it came to percentages. Tsongas had 51 percent of the vote, while Ogonowski had 45 percent. Tsongas is the widow of the late Senator and one-time presidential candidate Paul Tsongas and a dean at Middlesex Community College. She is the......

The special election to replace Rep. Marty Meehan in the Fifth Congressional District will be tomorrow. The candidates are Democrat Niki Tsongas and Republican Jim Ogonowski. Tsongas is the widow of former Senator Paul Tsongas, and she has been able to bring in the big-time Democrat starpower. Ogonowski, a former member of the Air Force and National Guard, has been taking the door-to-door approach. The Globe said he planned "more than two dozen appearances" today.......

Carlo Basile, the man who was officially Democrat but fell somewhere between elephant and donkey, will be the new State Representative for East Boston. He won handily with 46% of the vote. The Hubster noted that turnout was 4,495. In the Boston City Council elections, Chuck Turner breezed to victory in District 7 (Roxbury) with 75.73% of the vote. Carlos Henriquez was second place with only 16.26% of the vote, so they will face off......

If you're in East Boston, it's time to vote for State Representative of the First Suffolk district, the seat vacated by Anthony Petruccelli when he won a State Senate spot. Here are the candidates, all Democrats: Carlo Basile - Basile is officially a Democrat, but he is more of a moderate - or an undercover elephant - in that he endorsed Romney in the past and worked for Kerry Healey's failed attempt to be governor.......

Today, some Massachusetts residents will be voting on a replacement for State Senator Jarrett Barrios, who left the Senate to make some bucks working for Blue Cross. The following candidates for his position are all Democrats: Timothy Flaherty - Former assistant DA and son of Charlie Flaherty, who used to be speaker of the Massachusetts House. Definitely has the most badass campaign photo. Also has the most endorsements (Globe, Cambridge Chronicle, Blue Mass Group). Anthony......

Former Massachusetts governor and Republican presidential aspirant Mitt Romney is in a full-scale Battle Royale with former Harvard hotshot Democrat presidential aspirant Barack Obama about the subject of sex. In the Atlantic piece Obama, Romney, and Sex, Sex, Sex, which appears to be titled for maximum search-engine optimization, Marc Ambinder writes about Romney's "shock" at Obama's proposal to teach sex-ed in kindergarten. Romney said, "I heard a quote today from Sen. Barack Obama which puzzled......

--Forbes announced that former Massachusetts governor and presidential aspirant Mitt Romney placed fourth in their "creepiest candidate" poll. We can understand why – and it has nothing to do with Mormonism or big sticks. It's simply the fact that the man has not aged for several decades. Of course he's creepy – he's hiding a portrait in the attic! --Romney's new "crazy eyes" ad certainly won't help him get off the creepy list. Earlier in......

Sure, former Massachusetts governor and aspiring Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney tries to talk tough about boosting the military and creating a "double Gitmo," but people tend to get hung up on his pretty face. A satire in the Metro by Elliott Kalan spoofed the interest people have in his looks by saying, "Currently, each major party has a handsome man in the running: Democrat John Edwards and Republican Mitt Romney. The handsome bloc......

John Kerry and Theresa Heinz Kerry will read from This Moment on Earth: Today's New Environmentalists and Their Vision for the Future at Memorial Church in Harvard Yard Saturday, April 21, at 12:00 pm. Tickets are on sale starting today. They're $5, and you can use the ticket cost as a coupon for a purchase from Harvard Book Store. Plus, if you buy the book at Harvard Book Store, you get two free tickets to......

Today a tremendous crowd* turned out in Boston to protest the Iraq War, to support our troops who are risking their lives, and to express their anger at the Bush administration for starting it. Many of those in attendance didn't stop with Bush, Cheney, & Co. - they also railed at the Democrat-controlled legislature, whom they feel aren't working enough to stop the war. At first, it seemed as if the rally would be......

Garrison Keillor will be at Symphony Hall tomorrow at 3pm. Tickets are available through the celebrityseries.org website. Garrison Keillor, the man behind Prairie Home Companion and the inspiration behind Robert Altman's last movie will be speaking in Boston tomorrow. Why does Bostonist like Keillor so much? He's the literary equivalent of Yo La Tengo, sounding for all the world like gentle souls yet proclaiming in an album title, "I am not afraid of you, and......

There’s something about the AM dial. It remains an important medium for all sorts of talk radio and sports, but still gets fuzzy anytime you’re too close to power lines or transformers. Even the MP3 players that include a radio tuner don’t include AM, it’s all frequency modulation, all the time. But for the faithful of the amplitude a new, old, familiar voice will be taking the airwaves in mid-February. On Sunday the Herald......

When Bostonist scanned the list of those on Deval Patrick's inaugural committee, we thought, "James Taylor? Huh. James 'Fire and Rain' Taylor? Is he doing the Bono thing now?" We learned that was indeed the case, and rumors have now surfaced that the soft-rocker might be dropping a few tunes at the Deval Patrick Million-Dollar Bash. Carol Beggy and Mark Shanahan write, "At his Boston concert before the election, Sweet Baby James dedicated 'Fire......

The Massachusetts midterms were downright sane compared to what happened in the rest of the nation. There was voter deception in Virginia. A poll worker strangled a voter in Kentucky (you'd think it would have been the opposite). Computer glitches slowed down voting across the nation. South Carolina's governor wasn't able to vote for himself. Britney Spears divorced K-Fed, which may have been a cultural sign that "The Man" was about to get stuck.......

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......

You may read in the papers that the Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin expects low turnout for the Democratic primary on September 19, but damn it, Bostonist is still excited. We've told you before about the three democratic candidates for governor, but did you know there's a whole raft of other nominations up for grabs in both parties? Oh yes indeed! Although the Republicans have but one candidate for governor, the ever-predictable Kerry Healey,......

Remember when Tom Reilly was just a run-of-the-mill, blowhard, establishment Democrat whose judgment we were starting to question because he used his office to do favors for friends (and possibly interfere with a criminal investigation along the way)? Bostonist does, and man, those were the days. Yesterday, when revelations of Marie St. Fleur's financial problems came to the fore, Bostonist was still willing to suppose that the AG could pull this thing out with a......

Oh, Tom Reilly, what sense can we make of you? First, word trickles down that you want go-to rich Democrat Chris Gabrieli as your running mate. That makes Bostonist think, "Huh. That seems alright, in a picking-running-mates- who-are-just-like-you-and-have-already-been- on-a-losing-ticket sort of way." Then someone in the hardworking Reilly campaign juggernaut must have said, "Hey, what if Boston voters and minority voters really do turn out in droves for the primary? Maybe people who are already......