Sunday Photo-'Toons 1.37

Ken O'Brien

Stop Susan Rice For Secretary Of State To Re-Elect Scott Brown

Ken O’Brien

A week and a half ago I posted the image on the right as one of The O’Zone’s Sunday Photo-‘Toons.

The obvious implication was that it would be of potentially great benefit to soon-to-be former Senator Scott Brown to have John Kerry appointed Secretary of State because it would allow Brown to run in a special election for that then vacant Senate seat.

Indeed, Kerry was among two names prominently mentioned to succeed Hillary Clinton who has announced her intention to step down. The other name floated was that of U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice.

Sunday Photo-'Toons 1.31

Ken O'Brien

Sunday Photo-'Toons 1.30

Sunday Photo-'Toons 1.29

Ken O'Brien

Sunday Photo-'Toons 1.27

Ken O’Brien

Warren Gaining Momentum

Ken O’Brien

Democratic candidate Elizabeth Warren has built a 9-point lead over Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) in the Massachusetts Senate race, a poll released Wednesday shows.

The latest survey from Public Policy Polling (PPP) shows Warren leading Brown among likely Bay State voters 53 percent to 44 percent.  That's Warren's largest lead in PPP's polling and also a 3-point bounce from a week ago.  Last week, PPP showed the Harvard law professor holding a 6-point lead over Brown.   

Third Brown Warren Debate Tomorrow Night: Recent Polls Show Conflicting Results

Ken O’Brien

The third debate between incumbent Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown and challenger Elizabeth Warren will be held at 7pm tomorrow night, October 10, at Symphony Hall in Springfield. It will be broadcast live on C-SPAN and New England Cable News.

The debate comes as Warren has maintained a lead in recent polls. A Sunday poll released by Western New England University (WNEU) / MassLive.com shows that Warren is maintaining a five-point lead over incumbent Sen. Scott Brown (R), 50 percent to 45 percent.

Sunday Photo-‘ Toons 1.25

Ken O’Brien

As the October chill envelops us like a foreclosure notice on the warmth and comfort of a home in the New England summer, we review the tumult of the prior week.

Local events of note were relatively sparse, eclipsed by the week’s developments on the national scene.

We did have the spectacle of the state representative accepting an invitation to debate and then beginning to tap dance around petty points of contention. We also learned that our new Middle/High School was in a wireless dead zone. But not to worry. Like everything else in Southbridge, we can buy our way out of it. Let’s just hope that nothing critical requiring such resources happens in the meantime.

Andy Hiller: Debate Victory Goes To Warren

Ken O’Brien

Andy Hiller

Last night was the second Massachusetts Senatorial Debate between incumbent Senator Scott Brown and Challenger Elizabeth Warren.

The debate was held at UMASS Lowell (who co-sponsored the debate along with the Boston Herald) in front of an audience estimated at between 4,500 to 5,700. It was carried live on WHDH TV, Channel 7 in Boston.

Following the debate WHDH’s resident analyst Andy Hiller rendered his verdict on the debate. The video of his review follows:

Warren Leads Brown By 5 Points In Latest Poll

Ken O’Brien

The latest Boston Globe poll shows Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren leading incumbent Senator Scott Brown by 43% to 38%. However, the poll shows that 18% of those polled remain undecided.

This is a turnaround for Warren from the last Globe poll conducted in May when Senator Brown held a two point lead. The result, though, still falls within the poll’s margin of error of plus or minus 4.4%.

During the month of September there have been a total of eight public polls on the race, six of which showed Warren in the lead. 

Sunday Photo-'Toons 1.24

Ken O'Brien

As we close the door on another exhilarating week in the land of O’Z, we look back with fond reminiscences.

We enjoyed a nicely entertaining town council meeting, followed by a snooze fest of a school committee meeting. (No mention of MCAS, hmmm.)

On the national scene, Willard continued to slide in the polls. Fortunately, he was joined by the non-mainstream media in protesting that such samples were clearly inaccurate if not tilted. (This did create somewhat of a conundrum for Faux News whose own poll showed Mittens behind by five points).

Hey Scott Brown, Just Look At Him

Ken O'Brien

During his opening response in the first Massachusetts Senatorial debate, Senator Scott Brown said, “As you know, I think what you’re referring to is the fact that professor Warren claimed she was a Native American, a person of color — And as you can see, she’s not.”

Poll Shows Warren With 6 Point Lead

Ken O’Brien

UPDATE: 9/18 For the third time this week a new poll, this time from Suffolk University, shows Elizabeth Warren has taken a lead in the Massachusetts Senate Race.

UPDATE: 9/17 Another new poll by Public Policy Polling shows Warren with a two point lead, an improvement of seven points since their last poll just before the Republican convention.

A survey of Massachusetts voters conducted Sept. 6-13 by the Western New England University Polling Institute through a partnership with Springfield newspaper The Republican and MassLive.com, shows Warren leading over Brown, 50 to 44 percent, among likely voters.

The gap among registered voters is even larger, according to the survey, which concluded Warren leads 53 to 41 percent. 

Scott Brown’s Ad Is A Lie!

Ken O’Brien

You’ve probably seen the following ad by Senator Scott Brown:

Note that he says, “So I filed a bill to stop insider trading in Congress, and it got passed and signed into law.”

Well, that’s not exactly true. 

Sunday Photo-‘Toons 1.19

Ken O’Brien

Without a town council or school committee meeting it’s been a pretty quiet week in dear old Southbridge. As the saying goes, these are the times that try a critic’s soul.

A couple of subcommittee developments have provided some saving fodder for the foolish.

In addition we always have the endless well of silliness provided by races for national office. 

Brown Leads Warren By 5 Points In Latest Poll

Ken O’Brien

Democratic Senatorial candidate Elizabeth Warren is losing ground in her race against Republican incumbent Scott Brown.

This is the verdict of the latest poll from Public Policy Polling released yesterday. PPP is generally regarded as leaning Democratic in its results.

The release from PPP about the results of their poll follows: 

Elizabeth Warren Would Reduce The Debt By More Than Scott Brown

Ken O’Brien

Despite Republican efforts to portray her as a tax-and-spend class-war mongering liberal, Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren has actually turned out to be a bigger fiscal hawk than her Republican opponent Scott Brown.

An analysis published on July 11th by the The Boston Globe found that Warren's deficit plan would cut 67% more of the debt than the plan offered by Brown.  

Sunday Photo-‘Toons 1.18

Ken O’Brien

Here at The O’Zone we call these Sunday diversions Photo-‘Toons because they are usually variations (some would say corruptions) of photographs.

However, this week as we compiled our list of subjects, we found that a lot of so-called “real life” was, in fact, downright cartoonish. 

Sunday Photo-‘Toons 1.17

Ken O’Brien

Well this has been a week where the political landscape has been changing at all levels – local, statewide and national.

Obviously the crowning event was the long-awaited announcement of Mitt’s running mutt. It was done with all the calculation of a late Friday night Washington document dump.