Roslindale Parade Update
As regular readers know, I’m a big fan of parades (see here and here). Once again, I’ve tried my best to divine political trends from watching this year’s marchers:
1) Kudos to City Councillor Rob Consalvo for both marching in the parade and for sponsoring the Boston Crusaders Senior Marching Band. Other Hyde Park politicians (looking at you Rep. Scaccia) should be so thoughtful about the Roslindale portion of their districts.
2) Absolutely no statewide officeholders marched in the parade or participated in any way. Tsk, Tsk.
3) Of Boston’s four at-large city councilors, only John Connolly marched (and got the standard strong positive reaction). It’s basically a homegame for Councillor Connolly but it’s surprising that no one else participated. There’s going to be a competitive race for Mayor in a few years (I think), start working people.
4) O’Malley is the frontrunner for Tobin’s seat and I expect he’ll win handily with a strong JP showing to complement a strong West Roxbury turnout. But Jim Hennigan was running hard yesterday with Maura working up and down the route as well.
5) I heard a few “Where’s Menino?” questions. It’s the first time I have not seen him at the parade. But can we give him a break? A 67-year old man coming off a catastrophic knee injury deserves a mulligan or two.
6) Babies are the new accessory for the young(ish) pol. Consalvo was pushing a little one in a stroller and soon-to-be State Rep Ed Coppinger was carrying his youngest when they passed by us.
7) I’ve always wondered why we don’t see more of our Congresspeople (although they all seemed newly interested in our fair state after Scott Brown’s election). However, Congressman Steve Lynch, a shoo-in for reelection and in no danger of losing votes in this area, was a refreshing presence at the parade, marching with a relatively small entourage and eagerly shaking hands along the way. The sight of Lynch slinging Mardi Gras beads to the third floor of a threedecker is one I’ll remember. Not sure Ed Markey has the arm for that.
8) Sixth District Democratic nominee (and likely winner) Russell Holmes and his wife were a noticeable presence. Despite being far out of their District, they plunged into the crowd with gusto, shaking as many hands as they could.
9) It appears that the Dapper O’Neil people have finally given up. No cars or campaign signs this year.
10) Still curious about the State Senate race between Mike Rush and Brad Williams. Not sure that Williams can overcome Rush’s strength in West Roxbury and the strength of his backers (Rogers, McMurtry, Coughlin) in the suburbs, but it feels competitive for once. I’m on record pointing out that Rush won West Roxbury but lost the suburbs in the primary, so its not outside the realm of possibility.
