The LG’s Alliances

The StateHouse News is reporting that Lieutenant Governor Tim Murray, “has not endorsed a candidate for president this primary season, and he may hold off entirely, he said today. After a leadership meeting with Gov. Deval Patrick and legislative leaders, Murray told the News Service he hadn’t made a decision yet and may not endorse. While the governor has vocally backed U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, most Democratic legislators have joined the camp of New York Senator Hillary Clinton.”

The issue for Murray goes a little deeper than where “most Democratic legislators” stand.  He’s caught between two rock solid allegiances, and is better of staying out of the fray.  Patrick’s endorsement of Obama is an acknowledgement of what the Boston Globe called in July a “symbiotic friendship” between the two, who share a similar legacy as well as a same chief strategist.

On the other side of Murray is long time political ally and mentor Jim McGovern, a longtime political ally of the Clintons.  McGovern’s allegiance is part of the reason most Worcester pols have lined up publicly behind Clinton; it’s also why Murray is better off not endorsing either candidate this go-around.

Exercises in exciting exclusive photography: KONNIE AND RICK TALKING!

For the past couple days, our good friend Jeff at Wormtown Taxi has been demanding proof that Konnie Lukes and Rick Rushton hugged after Monday’s recount.

Well, sorry Jeff.  We don’t have that, but we have exclusive AMAZING proof that Rick and Konnie actually….TALKED! CLOSELY!  And Rick SMILED!

Enjoy.

Morning Media Watch

• The Boston Globe is reporting this morning that DA Joe Early’s office knew that Daniel Tavares had fled to Washington.  Tavares, the convicted killer who allegedly executed a couple in Washington, was wanted on outstanding charges here.  Early’s office has been under a ton of pressure in the media over the past few days, and the latest suggestion is that DA officials didn’t seek active extradition because of cost.  Early spokesman Tim Connolly puts the kibosh on that theory, defending the handling of Tavares’ warrant.  “If you had nationwide warrants for everybody, it just wouldn’t be workable,” Connolly tells the Globe.

• On Monday, the Boston Magazine Daily Blog reported that the Telegram and Gazette ran an editorial on that Daniel Tavares issue, plagiarizing a quote that had appeared in the Boston Herald from the victim’s father, Darrel Slater.  Editorial Page Editor George French called the incident an “oversight,” and the Herald reported on the reportage.  One problem: The Herald’s blog missteps, citing Slater as the killer, not Tavares.  “Slater executed a newlywed couple from Washington state after Massachusetts set him free early for killing his mother,” the entry reads.

• Word on the street is that Telegram and Gazette columnist Dianne Williamson is taking on an additional gig.  She’ll be the host of a daily one hour program on AM 830 WCRN starting in January.  We have more in this week’s Worcester Magazine.

Council meeting preview

Tonight’s agenda looks reasonably light, barring any surprise orders or City Manager announcements.

But one interesting observation, and one that we will be following up with an analysis in this week’s paper: All six city council orders – two brought by Rick Rushton, four by Phil Palmieri – deal with pushing CSX in various ways.  It’s all about improving commuter rail service between Worcester and Framingham, and this is one of the first volleys.

FINAL

Results:

Lukes – 7507

Rushton – 7391

Mechanical Help

A big deal was made at he beginning of the day that there would be no mechanical help—no calculators, computers or laptops to help with counting. Apparently that rule no longer counts. With the accountants’ tabulation the only remaining hurdle to getting this thing done, city solicitor david moore just brought in an adding machine that will be used for…something, possibly to do a final check when all is done. Again, as of 5:20, there are still about 30 precincts left to be officially confirmed by the accountants, but all expectations in the room(including from Rushtons camp) are that the day belongs to Lukes.

For all intents and purposes, the recount is over and Konnie Lukes will be the mayor for the next two years.

The End Game: Lukes victorious?

We’re about over: There was just the first drama of the day when David Rushford announced that the supply boxes were going to be opened to search for additional ballots–apparently there was a question of if a few had been put in the wrong box.

Rick Rushton’s lawyer said that if the margin was still 100 or so, he didn’t want to open them up and go through with it; he asked for the full tally to be certified before opening the other boxes.  Essentially: Don’t waste people’s time if we already know who won the recount.

Peter Lukes (on behalf of his mother) essentially said, ‘well, then we should have called it hours ago.’

It doesn’t look like any ballots are being found in the supply boxes–if they are, it won’t amount to more than 10 or 20 tops, sources downstairs say.

And, with Rushton’s counsel’s comments, it looks like this recount may soon be announced over in Lukes’ favor.

We’ll let you know.