Yesterday we focused on the negative: neither Ted Kennedy nor John Kerry nor Deval Patrick was able to help Barack Obama to a win in the Massachusetts primary. However, Atlantic blogger Matthew Yglesias slowed the rush to proclaim Kennedy's irrelevance with a helpful chart: It's obvious there (and it was obvious here and here) that Obama had a lot of momentum heading into the voting--though it's impossible to say exactly how much of that was......

Massachusetts' legendary senior Senator and national liberal icon, Ted Kennedy. Massachusetts' junior Senator and the 2004 Democratic nominee, John Kerry. Massachusetts' precedent-shattering Governor, Deval Patrick. None of the endorsements were enough for Barack Obama to win the Massachusetts primary. While we gave a lot of attention yesterday to Senator Obama's epic Boston rally, Seth Gitell was reminding people that--press attention and celebrity status aside--the two strongest political machines in the state belong to Boston's......

People, so many people, mostly young people, people everywhere. There were so many people waiting in line for Senator Barack Obama's rally at the Seaport World Trade Center last night that the campaign turned the queue into a phone bank, handing out lists of voters and asking people to use their cell phones to plead for support. There were so many people waiting in the cold that a nearby Dunkin' Donuts had to prematurely......

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......

Here's something we never thought of: the Patriots' (hopeful) victory parade would have to be on Tuesday, thus conflicting with the Massachusetts primary. The team won't be back on Monday, and most of them have to go to the Pro Bowl in Hawaii on Wednesday. So Tuesday (and not AFTER the Pro Bowl, which would just be crazy talk) it is. "We have to have a plan," saidMayor Menino. "I'm just thinking about it; I......

Bostonist saw John Kerry mingling with the functionaries at Mayor Menino's State of the City in Dorchester a couple of weeks ago, and we realized we had forgotten a couple of things about him. One, he's damn tall. Two, he's an elected politician. The nature of American incumbency makes it difficult to dislodge any Senator once they're in power, but Massachusetts has it particularly bad. Our duo in Washington has a combined 70 years in......

HubTrotter has a great report from New Hampshire. He paid close attention to the license plates and spotted a trend: "Looking around at the cars parked at the Clinton rally, there were quite a few out-of-state plates. Probably no more than two-thirds (and I think it was closer to one-half) of cars had "Live Free or Die" on the plates. And as is the case at many rallies, there seemed to be two reporters......

Today Republican presidential candidate/Iowa caucus winner/Romney rival Mike Huckabee faced a heckler who clearly forgot that where there's Huckabee, there's Chuck Norris. The man had a right to speak, but, as Charlie Savage writes, he wouldn't shut up and kept yelling, "Why is Richard Haass, the president of the Council of Foreign Relations, your political adviser?" Then Huckabee unveiled his not-so-secret weapon and said, "Don't make me send Chuck back there!" Chuck Norris still......

Our neighbor, New Hampshire, is indulging in primary one-upmanship by moving its presidential primary up to January 8 to beat Michigan's January 15 date. For Boston, this means an endless parade of presidential candidates on television, a lot sooner than we're used to now that the states are trying to get a slice of the money the primaries will bring. The early primaries force the candidates to put the pedal to the medal and automatically......

--State Senate President Therese Murray ruled that a nonbinding referendum on Governor Deval Patrick's plan to allow three casino licenses in the state could not be added to the March primary ballot. [Boston Globe] --Meanwhile, the state Senate voted 35 to 5 to pass a measure that would move next year's Massachusetts presidential primary from March 4 to February 5. [WBZ] --In an appalling case, a former Somerville police officer was found guilty yesterday......