It's Independence Day weekend, the midpoint of the year, which makes this a good time to catch up on what's been happening locally, on Beacon Hill and in Washington, as well as to indulge in predictions of what the future might hold.
Lean times appear to have taken some of the luster from public service at the city and town level.
Except for the big upset in Ipswich where incumbent Selectman Jim Foley was defeated by Finance Committee member Ray Morley, there wasn't a lot of action in the town elections this spring. And with less than a month left to take out nomination papers for the fall elections, there's still a dearth of candidates in the cities of Salem and Peabody.
The fact that incumbents Kim Driscoll and Mike Bonfanti could be unopposed in November is surprising. Not everyone in Salem is happy with Driscoll's pro-growth stance, and it will be four years from November until the next mayoral election there. Meanwhile, the storm of controversy that erupted earlier this year when Bonfanti signed a contract making 9/11 a paid holiday for the city's police officers, along with controversy over the school budget, create ready-made issues for an opponent in Peabody.
It appears most of the focus this fall, however, will be on Beverly where veteran City Councilor John Burke is taking on Bill Scanlon, the city's longest-serving chief executive. There's a very lively race for the three councilor-at-large seats in which a former council president and former state representative are seeking to revive their political careers. The Lynn mayoral race also promises to be a barn-burner with incumbent Edward "Chip" Clancy facing off against Pat McManus, who held the seat for 10 years before him.
On Beacon Hill, Gov. Deval Patrick signed off on the new lean-and-mean state budget Monday. He played the reform card well, forcing legislators to extend themselves on measures aimed by ending abuse of the state pension system, strengthening ethics policy and consolidating the state's transportation bureaucracy.
Only time will tell whether those initiatives went far enough to make a 25-percent increase in the sales tax and other revenue measures palatable to voters.
Look for gambling to dominate debate the second half of the year. Meanwhile the next six months may also bring answers to such questions as:
Will state Treasurer Tim Cahill be running for governor next year?
If Cahill stays put, where will state Rep. Steve Walsh, D-Lynn, look next to move up the political ladder?
Is Swampscott Republican Charlie Baker serious about running for the corner office, or does he just like hearing people talk about his possible candidacy? And does Beverly's Kerry Healey, the former lieutenant governor, still have dreams of getting elected to the top job?
Finally, the bloom may be off the Obama rose down in Washington where the popular commander-in-chief is starting to get pushback even from members of his own party on costly issues like cap-and-trade and universal health coverage.
Still, while subjects like these are bound to create controversy, philandering GOP stalwarts like Nevada's Sen. John Ensign and South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford are elevating the president to husband- and father-of-the-year status. Republicans might want to stop their incessant moralizing, so they don't look like such abject hypocrites when things like this happen.
No telling whether Mitt Romney, after veering left to run for governor of the Bay State, then turning right in an effort to gain GOP conservatives' support for his presidential ambitions, could survive another course shift.
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Nelson Benton's column on North Shore politics appears every Friday. Read him daily at blogs .salemnews.com/fullnelson.
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