| More

After Preliminary Win, Boston's Menino Looks Safe

Posted By | September 23, 2009



It says a lot that Boston Mayor Thomas Menino yesterday had the weakest electoral showing of his 16-year tenure -- and still looks as though he will win a 5th term without much difficulty. Here are the basics of what happened, courtesy of the Boston Globe:

Mayor Thomas M. Menino surged to the top of the field and Councilor at Large Michael F. Flaherty Jr. grabbed second place in Boston's preliminary mayoral race yesterday, setting up a general election that pits two former allies who have become sharp political adversaries.

Menino captured 50.5 percent of the vote, while Flaherty got 24 percent, beating out the other challengers by a comparatively slim margin for a spot in the final election. Councilor at Large Sam Yoon ended the day with 21 percent, and South End businessman Kevin McCrea got 4 percent.

With the mayor over 50%, Flaherty would still lose even if he consolidated the entire anti-Menino vote. While Flaherty is more experienced and better funded than Menino's other foes this year, he also presents less of a contrast for voters than Yoon or McCrea would have. Like Menino, Flaherty is a long-time insider who has been criticized for conducting government business in an opaque manner.

Menino's other advantages are in fundraising and organization. He has at his disposal what critics term a political machine -- I prefer the gentler term, "political apparatus." Regardless, there are some advantages to being an old-school politician.



 


Josh Goodman
Josh Goodman

Josh Goodman is a former staff writer for GOVERNING..

E-mail: mailbox@governing.com
Twitter: @governing

Comments



Add Your Comment

You are solely responsible for the content of your comments. GOVERNING reserves the right to remove comments that are considered profane, vulgar, obscene, factually inaccurate, off-topic, or considered a personal attack.

Comments must be fewer than 2000 characters.

About

GOVERNING Politics is the place for news and analysis on campaigns and elections. If there's a ballot measure in California, a legislative election in Alabama, a mayoral election in Anchorage or a governor's race in Rhode Island, GOVERNING Politics probably is writing about it. We love everything about state and local politics, from polls and campaign ads to policy debates and demographic trends.

RSS About this Blog Contact

Latest From Politics


Categories



© 2011 e.Republic, Inc. All Rights reserved.    |   Privacy Policy   |   Site Map