Fellow columnist Barbara Anderson asked the question this week: How can voters continue to re-elect the same people who ignore the policy changes they demand through the initiative-petition process?

Indeed, being an incumbent Democrat holding state or federal office is tantamount to having lifetime tenure — regardless of how you vote. And until that changes, nothing else will.

This very dynamic may be aiding the cause of Gov. Deval Patrick whose many miscues might make him seem unelectable — until he's measured against the alternatives.

A Suffolk University/Channel 7 poll out this week showed more voters view Patrick negatively than positively (45 percent vs. 42 percent), and 56 percent would like to see "someone else" in the corner office after the next election.

Yet when matched up with potential challengers Tim Cahill, Charlie Baker and Christy Mihos, Patrick garners significantly more support than any one of them.

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GOP gubernatorial candidate Baker — the frontrunner among Republicans according to the Suffolk/Channel 7 poll, but the less formidable of the two in a three-way race with Democrat Patrick and independent Cahill — will be in Salem next Wednesday to attend a fundraiser at the newly-renovated Lyceum restaurant.

Sponsors of the event include local attorney Randy Chapman, former Swampscott selectman Reid Cassidy and former Marblehead state representative candidate John Blaisdell.

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You can tell it's election season. Former state representative Mike Cahill, a candidate for councilor at large in Beverly, was spotted waving to potential voters on both the Veterans Memorial Bridge and the Brimbal Avenue bridge at Route 128 this week. That's how Kevin Burke, now the secretary of public safety, got his start in politics many, many years ago.

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Gov. Patrick is threatening a boycott of Hyatt hotels due to its having laid off nearly 100 housekeepers and replacing them with lower-wage workers provided by an out-of-state staffing firm.

Attorney General Martha Coakley, a leading Democratic candidate for Ted Kennedy's U.S. Senate seat, addressed the AFL-CIO's convention in Newton yesterday.

And union pressure helped convince the Legislature to go along with White House demands that it allow the governor to name an interim replacement for Kennedy.

Kowtowing to organized labor is apparently still an honored tradition here in the Bay State, despite the heavy cost it imposes on taxpayers.

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Just a thought, but perhaps cities and towns should start charging those who fail to show up at the polls. Salem City Clerk Cheryl Lapointe says she spent $1,303 printing 4,050 ballots — one for every person eligible to vote in the Sept. 15 City Council primaries in Wards 3 and 5. But turnout was exceedingly light — only 160 people bothered to cast ballots in the Ward 3 race — meaning that when all costs were tallied the city spent $18.70 per vote.

As a symbolic gesture the city could add the cost of the ballot — about 32 cents — to the property tax bills of those who fail to use one.

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There's a dispute brewing in the city of Newburyport over the use of laptop computers at council meetings. Councilors exempted themselves and members of the working press, but as The Daily News of Newburyport editorialized, an increasing number of citizens use their computers to take notes and blog on public meetings.

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Add state Reps. John Keenan, D-Salem; Mary Grant, D-Beverly; and Steve Walsh, D-Lynn, to the roster of North Shore Democrats supporting Coakley's Senate candidacy. Look for a formal announcement from her team soon.

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Nelson Benton's column on North Shore politics appears every Friday in this space. Read him daily as blogs.salemnews.com/fullnelson.