As timely as the headlines from, errr, umm, earlier in the week - here's my all important "Election Breakdown":
I believe Shannon O'Brien lost the MA governor's race because of two factors 1) She failed to successfully deflect the charges that she would one way or another end up raising taxes, and 2) her somewhat abrasive and annoying personality. Reason number one was just clearly a failing of her campaign. The Mittster successfully labeled her as a tax hike waiting to happen, and she just didn't successfully convince the voters otherwise. Reason number two is perhaps more unfortunate. Yes, she was sometimes difficult to watch in the debates with her irritating smirks, and clearly she is a tough, aggressive woman. However, just because it is possible she isn't the most likeable person on the planet doesn't preclude her from becoming a strong governor. In some way, maybe it'd be a plus. It's a shame that the skills one needs to become elected are probably the opposite of those one needs to govern well. It's clear that her views on most of the issues are far closer to the average voter than those of the Governor-Elect. That should mean something, shouldn't it?


I didn't know anything about my favorite candidate in this election cycle until Tuesday morning when I was doing my final research on for whom to vote. The best candidate this year was Republican for State Treasurer Dan Grabauskas . I am generally not inclined to vote Republican in most cases, and treasurer is not exactly the most thrilling race, but I learned that he was the person responsible for the sweeping reforms at the Registry of Motor Vehicles. He's been the head of that agency since 1999, and implemented the ticket & queuing system that makes it actually a reasonable proposition that you can accomplish something at a Registry Office without being there all day. Fixing the registry should rate some kind of Nobel Prize for openers. He earned the nominations of the leading so-called "left-leaning" publications in town (Globe & Phoenix) over the Democratic candidate, which is certainly unusual and noteworthy. I think fixing the registry should be worthy of a Nobel prize.

His opponent, who unfortunately won, seemed to have as his primary campaigning weapons 1) a D next to his name, and 2) a TV ad highlighted by his overly cute 10 year old daughter spouting his campaign slogan of her own creation - "Tim for Treasurer".

So that's what it takes. Budding politicos, make note.