Political fun ball

Oh, my, we've got ourselves a big ol' giant ball o' political fun today! From our newest Democratic gubernatorial candidate to health care to a Republican blogger issuing a press release about a post complaining about a post on Deval Patrick's Web site, there's something for everyone. Oh, and we almost forgot: Smoki Bacon is involved! Let's have at it:

On Blue Mass. Group, David notes Deval Patrick welcomes Gabrieli to the race:

No statement that I've seen yet from Tom Reilly, but I'm sure he welcomes Chris to the race as well, just like he welcomed him to the Lieutenant Governor's race a few weeks back. Or not.

The Blue Mass. Group gang is interviewing Gabrieli on Saturday - what would you ask him?

New England Republican: It looks like Tom Reilly may have really stepped in it when he snubbed Chris Gabrieli earlier this year:

... Reilly has run a horrible campaign so far and this news must be sending shockwaves through his campaign. It certainly has the potential to sink his candidacy.

Gabrieli's campaign Web site has a fun feature - every time you click, you get a different Massachusetts symbol in the logo. How many can you identity?

Adam Reilly posts Gabrieli's kickoff speech, along with digressions from the printed text, although he can't vouch he got them all because he kept getting distracted by the GIANT GLASSES worn by Gabrieli's mother-in-law, the immortal Smoki Bacon.

Mass. Marrier: Gabrieli is headed for yet another ego-driven loss; the only question is whether he gets enough votes at the party convention to get on the September ballot.

Bruce is looking to move out of Massachusetts following the legislative approval of that new health-insurance program:

I'm so outta here.

Optimistic Patriot is not the least bit surprised the plan, one day after winning legislative approval, already looks to cost consumers a lot more than backers claimed:

... Where does this train stop? My guess is single-payer state controlled healthcare. After making health insurance unaffordable for everyone through state mandated subsidies and improper funding, the state will declare a crisis, and the only "reasonable" solution will be socialized healthcare to "control" costs. ...

On One Smoot Short of a Bridge, eeka wonders why people think taxes will skyrocket to pay for care for people with disabilities:

Why have so many of you people never heard of MassHealth? ... We're already paying for the healthcare of people who are unemployed and/or have disabilities, as we should be. We're also paying for the healthcare of people who work at McDonald's and Dunkin Donuts and aren't offered insurance through their employers. Those who choose to patronize these establishments are further enabling these employers to abuse their employees. ...

Usually, I find about about new posts on local blogs through my trusty RSS aggregator. But I opened my e-mail earlier today to find a note marked "For Immediate Release" from Aaron Margolis over at Hub Politics. Seems Aaron's discovered that the Amy G. of Wellesley in this Deval Patrick testimonial is, in fact, Patrick co-chair Amy Gorin! And the testimonial doesn't mention that! Shocker!

Finally, remember that weird New Hampshire case in which GOP operatives tried to muck up the Democrats by jamming their get-out-the-vote phone banks? Betsy Devine continues to track the scandal, which, like so many other scandals involving the Party in Power these days, doesn't seem to stop at the state lines.