POLITICIANS DON’T TYPICALLY jump at the chance to mix it up in public with the chair of their state party. That should be doubly true for a young, no-name, first-time candidate making a run for Congress. But Seth Moulton didn’t hold back last year. He was locked in a primary fight against an entrenched Democratic […]
Paul McMorrow
Paul McMorrow comes to CommonWealth from Banker & Tradesman, where he covered commercial real estate and development. He previously worked as a contributing editor to Boston magazine, where he covered local politics in print and online. He got his start at the Weekly Dig, where he worked as a staff writer, and later news and features editor. Paul writes a frequent column about real estate for the Boston Globe’s Op-Ed page, and is a regular contributor to BeerAdvocate magazine. His work has been recognized by the City and Regional Magazine Association, the New England Press Association, and the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. He is a Boston University graduate and a lifelong New Englander.
Posted inHealth Care, The Download
Vermont pulls plug on single-payer
Earlier this year, Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin told Vox that, for better or worse, the hopes of every advocate for single-payer health care rode on his state’s ambitious health care overhaul. Vermont would either pull off a successful transition to single-payer, and a cascade of states would follow, or it would fail, and cement the […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Cruz-ing for big-money backers
Texas Sen.Ted Cruz thinks he can get himself elected president, and he’s gone to a friendly media outlet to try to gin up good press, give his base a preview of his campaign strategy, and drum up interest among potential staffers and campaign donors.That’s standard procedure by now. But what’s notable about Cruz’s recent decision […]
Posted inPolitics
Battling for the urban vote
robert lewis jr. stood on a stage in Dorchester, gripping a podium and firing up the crowd in front of him, hollering, “Isn’t it so great to be with a winner?” There wasn’t anything unusual about the setting Lewis found himself in. He runs a foundation that uses baseball to mentor city kids. Before that, […]
Posted inPolitics
Warren slams PAC spending
Sen. Elizabeth Warren said Wednesday that heavy super PAC spending in the Massachusetts gubernatorial contest should prompt a federal crackdown on unfettered political spending by outside groups. Corporations and wealthy individuals, Warren argued, “are trying to drown democracy in their dollars. It’s up to us to fight them.” Warren spoke to reporters briefly Wednesday morning, […]
Posted inPolitics
Liberal Boston suburbs become key battleground
Charlie Baker launched his gubernatorial campaign last year in Lowell, and he spent much of the campaign chasing votes in cities that are traditionally hostile to Republicans like himself. Baker made raiding Democratic votes in Massachusetts cities a cornerstone of his campaign strategy. He scored a narrow victory Tuesday evening over his Democratic opponent, Attorney […]
Posted inPolitics
GOP super PAC money swamps governor’s race
Outside super PAC spending in the Massachusetts governor’s race has nearly doubled the outside spending totals set four years ago, and the wave of outside money has been decidedly one-sided. Most of the increase in outside spending has come from a single source, the Republican Governors Association. The RGA has poured $12.4 million into the […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
Cities are Democratic turf
Fewer than two weeks separate Martha Coakley and Charlie Baker from Election Day. The two major gubernatorial candidates are locked in a dead heat, and as they both scramble to cobble together a winning coalition, no subsection of the state looms larger than Massachusetts cities. Urban areas are a cornerstone of the Democratic base in […]
Posted inPolitics
Outside spending bonanza for GOP
Super PACs and labor groups have combined to spend over $13 million in the Massachusetts governor’s race to date. Outside groups have outspent the gubernatorial field — the two major gubernatorial finalists, their running mates and political parties — by $1.5 million this year. The $13 million in outside PAC and labor money represents a […]
Posted inPolitics
Massachusetts cities: Less white, more blue
Charlie Baker is trying to become the first Republican to win the Massachusetts governor’s office since Mitt Romney. But Baker is wooing a far different electorate than the one Romney won over in 2002. In the dozen years since Romney took the Corner Office, Massachusetts voters have become significantly less white overall. This demographic shift […]