I'm here. There's just nothing going on. It's been a quiet weekend.

The Democratic State Convention was this weekend. It's still a little strange that I wasn't there. This year was all about next year's race for governor. (Because it's an off year, that's why. There are local races but nothing major.)

See, we've had Republican governors for about twelve years despite being one of the most Democratic states in the country. Massachusetts was the only state to go for McGovern in '72. Both our senators and all our congressmen are Democrats. But we've had three Republican governors in a row now.

Our current governor was our lieutenant governor until Bush appointed Paul Cellucci ambassador to Canada and Jane Swift got a promotion (with "Acting" in front of her title). I don't know what Cellucci did to earn a gig like that. But Swift isn't considered as tough an opponent as Cellucci, partly because she has less experience and partly because she's a woman. I have a feeling she's tougher than she looks, but anyway.

Cellucci was a tough opponent, but the Democratic Party screwed itself out of the running in 1998. The strongest Democratic candidate was the attorney general, Scott Harshbarger. Some of the party leaders had issues with Harshbarger and wouldn't support him. This is the sort of petty bullshit I don't miss in politics.

So now, of course, six Democrats have come forward already for next year's race. Apparently, the state senate president, a genuinely strange man named Tom Birmingham, got the loudest support. I've liked him in the state senate, but I'm not sure he has a pulse. There's something sort of animatronic about him, like the gunslinger androids in Westworld.

Strange musings on a strange time, Hunter Thompson would say. I've been reading too much HST lately. I like his edge. Don't bother with Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas; jump in with The Great Shark Hunt. It's got reprints of his earlier journalism and sections from a few other books. Think of it as a sampler.

Thompson got fired from one of his early jobs for kicking in a candy machine after it ate his money. I sympathize. I don't get angry very often, but I can be pretty destructive when I do. Never a good idea: I punched a few walls in April and my right hand still hurts.

And it's had enough typing for the night.

Tomorrow, first thing: laundry. I need clean sheets.