Let's not forget that in the 2006 election, the youth turned out to vote. People around 20-25 vote at least the same rate as the overall electorate, if not even slightly higher. There was an interesting Op-Ed from former Gov Jeane Shaheen on a study that Harvard did (she's the head of their political center) in the Boston Globe not too long ago that was entirely about how the young adults now vote, big time.

I would never presume to say she wasn't. I just didn't see her with her camp at the Parade. I have since heard she was there, I just didn't see her and tried to take her picture (I posted the picture of her campaign's volunteers there... and what a presence they had! Kudos to Niki on that).

Edwards is the only candidate to completely oppose DOMA that I know of. While he says that he's against marriage equality, the fact that he's against DOMA essentially amounts to legalizing marriage equality, even if people would have to travel to mass to get their licenses.

That said, he's making it hard for me to admit he has the best position on glbt rights. "I'm not there yet," sounds almost worse to me (a gay person) as "I'm not there." Yet? Please. When are you going to be there, the next time you decide to run?

While there isn't a whole lot of differences between all 3 candidates this time around, I think Edwards seems the most progressive overall of the Big Three. My support for him, however, is tepid until he warrants a stronger endorsement or Al Gore jumps in.

She could have been, I just didn't see her. But, kudos to her if she was! In any event, kudos to her for sending so many people too. It makes a difference.

I know she was there at the state house during the ConCon as well. That makes a difference, too.

Lynne, those videos are really awesome. I'm so glad you posted them. This is exactly the kind of thing that makes the blogosphere so great!

I went to the Pride Parade.

The reason why Jamie Eldridge's crew looked 'rag tag' as you'd like to suggest is because some of his supporters were with his sign, while Jamie himself and presumably some of his people were with Jarret Barrios, who supports Eldridge, up in the front.

That's right, Jamie Eldridge actaully went to the Pride Parade. I didn't see Niki Tsongas there.

Trust me when I say this, as someone who follows elections closely - having the most signs is rarely, if ever, an indication of your support. I know several people who held signs for Niki Tsongas at the very forum I went to - in some cases, they didn't even live in the district, they just picked the most obvious candidate.

And while Deval had jumped into first place by June, in April he was far behind Tom Reilly. If you'd like me to find you links to prove that, I blogged the entire race and could probably one or two on my blog. I'd rather not waste my time though.

The race has changed, whether you like it or not. Niki Tsongas, from a progressive standpoint, does not have the best stances - whatsoever. Never is that more obvious than on health care, where Niki is 100% status quo, fully supporting the Massachusetts system which - I can promise you - fails at many levels. Furthermore, Lynne just posted the videos from the Iraq war forum the candidates held - one where the only candidate who stood strong for equality in the army was Jamie Eldridge. He was the only one who said, clearly, that he would support changing the law so that colleges could refuse military recruitment on campus if they discriminate against gay people - which they do.

Finally, I need to know what drugs you're smoking, because here's your beginning and then end of your reply:

I think Jamie is great on the issues, better than Niki. More knowledgeable, and more progressive.

But I feel she's also the best candidate on the issues that seems to be in the running, until I see evidence otherwise.

Which is it?

Is Jamie a better candidate on the issues, or is Niki? Clearly, above, you said Jamie... now, at the end, you seem to say it's Niki - at least out of candidates "in the running."

Well, this is a primary: Support the candidate you'd like to see win. The winner of the primary will win the general, that's almost certain. Someone would be idiotic to support a candidate in a primary when there was no general election to seriously worry about, just because they weren't the big-name candidate. That's idiocy at it's worst.

That jump in support started around April - which is right around when this race really started.

I'll actually be mildly surprised if Eldridge doesn't win this thing.

Hurricane,

I went to a health care forum on two weeks ago from yesterday. Finegold, Tsongas and Donoghue all had sign holders they dragged in. The sign holders came for the 20 minutes before the forum, then left.

Eldridge didn't have sign holders and doesn't have the money the other candidates have. Yet, during the actual forum it was clear that 80% of the people in that room were won over by him by the end. He received, by far, the most and loudest applause at the event. I've been told the same thing happened at the Iraq War forum at a totally different location and time.

It's at this point that I'd like to remind you that Deval Patrick, from going to these kinds of forums and using this exact kind of grassroots campaign, went from having 5% of the state's Democratic support to more than 55% by the ened of the primary, a three-way primary. Mark my words, Jamie Eldridge could very easily win this race and it will come from his grassroots activism this summer. Turnout is going to be low, on a primary that takes place the day after labor day at the end of the summer, when everyone is on vacation or just getting back. It's going to be the left-of-center progressives that vote, not the low-information people who will support Tsongas based on her name and nothing else.

You've got to be kidding me. She's deeply entrenched in corporate welfare and has been caught suggesting that the only way out of the health care mess is to rely on the market to lower prices...

How is that any different than what we've been doing since there have been any healthcare policies?

She's NOT progressive on health care one bit; her policies are very status quo and anti-progressive to the core.

I'm saying this as someone who initially supported her and found her health care policies to be anethema to everything I believe in as a progressive, flag-waving, Massachusetts blogger.

Then I looked at other candidates and found someone who had solid proposals and has been a leader on all of them: Jamie Eldridge.

I just live-blogged a health care forum where all the democratic candidates attended in the MA-05 race. Furthermore, I've been covering the race in my Mass podcast, LeftAhead,  who I do with the Lynne you linked. So, having known little about the candidates before hand and having studied them very closely over the past month or two, I've come to an obvious conclusion: If you want a progressive candidate in Congress, you want Jamie Eldridge - bar none.

Niki Tsongas has a lot of ties to DLC type politics and is a friend to the health care industry - a member of the board of one major health care company in Massachusetts (Falon). She seems to be socially liberal in areas like marriage equality, but she's not going to be the voice of courage that would make a difference.

Jamie Eldridge's two biggest issues are health-care-for-all, via a single-payer type system (a la Rep. Conyer's plan to expand Medicare) and gay marriage. As a GLBT Mass blogger, I really appreciate that and have chatted directly with him on the issue (he's forth whip on the upcoming marriage amendment vote, trying to preserve equality by any means necessary). At the health care forum, on a question related to glbt issues from the audience, he said that he wanted to replace Meehan as the leader on repealing DADT.

He's got the grassroots support - the same people who propelled our very progressive Governor who's a fellow member of the reality-based community. He was the only candidate in Massachusetts history to ever be elected on the public financing system, before our former speaking of the house destroyed that law.

I've taken a close look at all of the candidates and, while I like a few of them too, I've come to realize that not only is Eldridge the candidate who most resembles this movement we're all a part of, he'll also be a very good Representative for progressive issues - never backing down like we've seen too often by the Dems lately.

Maybe. It'll certainly be interesting to see. However, while I agree Google will settle, I think it could be with the agreements that a stricter policy will be set in place for preventing copyright material. Youtube has already gone on the warpath removing a LOT of videos lately that, under current copyright law, are clearly infringments.

However, they also benefit the public in a very positive way. So, we, as a public should look into creating a more fair copyright policy that alllows changes some practices. It compromise could be created that really would be mutually advantageous.

We need to create a process where attornies have some seperation from the President too, like judges. Perhaps we could create 2 or 4 year terms for federal prosecutors, or create a law that protects them from being fired while investigating politicians or important federal matters.

Just the other day, people were openly talking about how Mitt Romney was only considered in the top tier because media and insiders put him there > that's what kept him there. Suddenly, people are placing him as their bets in at least doing better than McCain?

I doubt it.

Having lived in Massachusetts all my life and having witnessed Mitt Romney as a Bay State Blogger, I can't fathom how he wins.

Why? He's the most conservative candidate in the race. But, he's also more in favor of gay rights than Ted Kennedy. He's flip flopped so many times, in such obvious ways, it's not even funny. He left such a sour taste in Massachusetts that his Lt. Governor was C.R.U.S.H.E.D. in office after 16 years of Republican Rule in Massachusetts.

I also have a tough time believing Guliani as the eventual nominee, but I think he has a better chance than Mitt. Everything in my head and heart tells me Mitt Romney has next to no chance. He was forced to ship in all sorts of college students to win that conservative straw poll... and a Suffolk poll (and Suffolk = god aweful) of New Hampshire at this point in the campaign

I don't trust them as far as I can throw them. During the Governor's race in Massachusetts, Suffolk was continually about 10% in the wrong direction and waaaaaaaay off from the 3-4 other polls keeping track of the race (which ended up being very close to the actual numbers at the end).