Some politics are local

A friend sends along this E.J. Dionne column on the Massachusetts governor race from the Washington Post. Dionne is correct that Mitt Romney’s would-be heir, Lt. Gov. Kerry Healy has ditched her boss’s socially conservative positions on abortion, stem-cell research, and gay marriage. Instead, she’s running as a law-and-order fiscal conservative in contrast to the alleged tax-‘n’-spend-let-all-the-criminals-out-of-jail liberalism of Democrat Deval Patrick. At this point I’m inclined to pull the lever for Patrick, in part because of the slimy attack ads the Healy campaign’s been running, but I can’t claim to have been follwing the ins and outs of the policy debate very closely.

It should be noted, incidentally, that there are two other candidates running for governor: independent Christy Mihos and Green-Rainbow party candidate Grace Ross. The latter promises to abolish poverty, end racial discrimination, and provide free education to everyone “centered on each one’s greatest potential.” Which sounds pretty good if you could pull it off.

I will be voting an enthusiastic yes on “Question 1” – a ballot proposition to allow grocery stores to sell wine by applying for licenses from town and city officials. Currently grocery stores have to get a full-on liquor license just to sell wine, the allowable number of which in a given locale being limited by law. This gives liquor stores a near-monopoly on the sale of wine, with predictable results. Yes on 1!