Once a year, the rest of America actually CARES about what happens at the Pole.
From my Boston Herald column today:
To the rest of America, we are a remote political outpost, the last place left where invoking the name “Kennedy” is meant as a compliment, not a punchline. While the rest of America is undergoing political climate change, we’re holding off reality. We’ve got just enough electoral elves - government workers, union stooges and members of the “Where’s my SSI check” club - to still work their magic.
But when the new Census numbers are reported later today, the Massachusetts left is likely to get a lump of coal. We are almost certain to lose at least one congressional seat, and that’s just the beginning of the bad news.
Our decision to re-elect every incumbent Democrat during a Republican tidal wave pushed us towards irrelevancy. Now years of voters fleeing “Mass. Mania” is making us even more insignificant on the national map.
But local Democrats aren’t giving up hope!
Politicians from Beacon Hill to Capitol Hill are bracing for the likelihood that Massachusetts will lose one of its 10 congressional seats when the latest Census figures are released today, creating the possibility of a showdown as district lines are redrawn.
“We are hoping for a miracle but every expert I’ve consulted with says it’s almost certain we are going to lose a seat,” said state Sen. Stanley Rosenberg (D-Amherst), chairman of the Senate’s special committee on redistricting.
Ah, yes. The “special committee on redistricting,” a.k.a. “The Gerrymander Goon Squad.” With a Democratic governor and a legislature that’s close to 90 percent Democrat, these hacks will crush any visions of a two-party political system right out of your head.
Here on our isolated iceberg of blue, nothing’s going to change. Massachusetts liberals will almost certainly continue the tradition of shameless gerrymandering to protect incumbents at all costs. The ghosts of gerrymanders past - and subsequent indictments and convictions - won’t be enough to deter Beacon Hill hacks from bare-knuckle partisanship when redrawing our elections. The 30 percent of Massachusetts voters who consistently support Republicans will continue to have zero percent representation in our House delegation.
That’s what Gov. Deval Patrick calls “diversity.
If you think Barney Frank’s district is bizarre now (Slate.com called it one of the 10 most gerrymandered in America), wait until it’s redrawn this time. Watch for voters in Springfield and Fall River to sudden discover they’ve got the same Congressman in 2012.
Nationally, however, none of our local legerdemain will make any difference. Find out why in the Herald today.
"The truth is something [Warren] probably prefers not to confront. Harvard doesn’t come calling just because you’re a smart lawyer and a terrific teacher — not with Warren’s modest, Oklahoma upbringing and non-Ivy League education. She is not your typical Harvard professor. At a certain point, when the law school was under pressure to promote diversity, she represented a three-fer: a great lawyer with a national profile, a woman, and a minority, at least by virtue of family lore. "
-- Joan Vennochi
