There's Still Good TV

No, this isn't another pitch to watch "Friday Night Lights" (although it probably should be), or a manifesto on the greatness of "Lost" (although that would be acceptible, too).

Instead, it's a head's up that I'm on TV tonight, making electronic greatness on "Politically Speaking," with new host Donna DesChaines. The game plan was to discuss the presidential primaries and what happens next, but I would think maybe the term "state Senate" might come up.

Now that you mentioned it, a few words on the Senate situation:

This, of course, is the time when everyone "takes a look" at the seat. Some of them are serious, and aren't going to bail. Some will take a look, consider the situation, and take a pass. How can not look at it, though? The seat hasn't been open in 16 years, and chances are the winner will lock it up for fairly long time. So if you're interested at some point in the next, say, 10 years, it's now or never.

Jen Flanagan is in, in, in. She has Antonioni's support, which is no small thing. She was viable before Antonioni took the rather rare step of endorsing someone from the get-go, but his help will be invaluable to her. She'll lose some (much?) of that edge if Dean Mazzarella jumps in. He's one of those considering. And Mazz doesn't have a re-election campaign this year, so he has nothing to lose. It will be an interesting situation if Mazz gets in.

Steve DiNatale is considering, but has a one-year House member and one without Antonioni's blessing, he could be facing an uphill climb. But if no other Democrats from Fitchburg run, and both Mazz and Flanagan are in and split their Leominster base, there might be room for DiNatale. But he'll have to be pretty sure. He'd hate to lose that House seat after one term. It'll be interesting to see what he does. The conservative move -- and maybe the smart move -- is to take a pass. But there's no shame in going for it if it's a crowded field with two big names in Leominster.

Hank Naughton, the Clinton rep, sure sounded like a guy who was in the other night. Will the Flanagan/Antonioni situation scare him off? He's been in the House for a while, and it's no secret he's been doing some fairly seriously job hunting of late, so it might be an up-or-out reason to move on from the House for him. He has the southern end of the district perhaps to himself, and Gardner Rep. Robert Rice has said he supports Naughton, so he might be strong on the western flank. He has a decision to make, though.

Steve Kerrigan of Lancaster is considering, but he might have some options if Naughton stays in. Kerrigan's smart, knows how the building works, and is a good guy and very hard worker. He doesn't have the base of the others, but shouldn't be ignored. Former Gardner Rep. Brian Knuuttila is considering, and he has nothing to lose, so he might stay it out for one shot at glory. He's currently counsel to Worcester Sheriff Guy Glodis, who might be the most powerful politician in the (former) county. If he has the Glodis machine working for him, he is a very good candidate.

Finally, there's former Mayor Dan Mylott. His tenure as mayor is currently not well-received. Can he overcome that? Here's the thing: He might get a pretty free pass to the general election. What other Republicans are out there? Mazz is unenrolled, would he run as a Republican? The GOP roster is short, so Mylott might by default be the best R-candidate out there. Suddenly, he's raising a ton of dough, maybe getting some state party support (for whatever that's worth), and if it's not DiNatale on the other side, he's the only Fitchburg candidate on the ballot (barring as surprise candidate from here on the Democrat side, of course). He has nothing to lose, and if the Republican field is pretty much non-existent, why wouldn't he take a stab at it?

More to come, that's for sure.