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You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ NewsRadio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. and 12:25 p.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.

More than 700 amendments have been filed to the spending plan outlined by the Senate Ways and Means Committee. Debate is scheduled to begin on Wednesday.

The budget for the fiscal year starting July 1 calls for an increase of $1.4 billion, or about 4.4 percent, over the current year. That includes new spending on housing, education, mental health and veteran services.

The Senate plan and a budget passed by the House last month both include $500 million in new revenue, including hikes in gasoline and cigarette taxes.

University of Massachusetts officials say the Senate version does not include enough funding to allow the school to freeze tuition and fees as it had hopes to do.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

Here it is in a nutshell:

On Fox, two out of three pundits agreed his comments had only bought him about 12 hours of peace and quiet.

Not 11, not 13, 12.

On the lefty website Daily Kos, one recommended poster was calling it a “fake” scandal.

Listen to Jon’s commentary:

For true wisdom on this, we’ll have to turn to Cooter.

Yes, Cooter from the TV series “Dukes of Hazzard,” who tended to the souped-up Dodge Charger with the confederate flag on the roof featured in the show’s many car chases.

Cooter’s real name is Ben Jones, a former congressman who was set to play with his band at a fundraiser for Ed Markey when he was told to stay away because of his past comments defending the confederate flag against complaints that it is a racially-offensive symbol.

Cooter has struck back with an op-ed piece on boston.com accusing Markey of misplaced political correctness. (I bet more voters here agree with Markey than not.) But at one point he argues: “In this Internet world…things are being simplified to the point of idiocy.”

I believe Cooter is on to something.

For those who wallow in it, the boil of left- and right-wing rhetoric reduces any issue immediately to its partisan bones, which are so calcified with grievance and stereotyping that no honest exchange is possible.

And that leaves us in for weeks, maybe months of harsh partisan warfare.

Is that really anybody’s idea of a good thing for the country right now?

You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.

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Obama said Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew had asked for and accepted Steven T. Miller’s resignation. Obama made no public criticism of Miller but spoke of inexcusable “misconduct” by IRS employees and said new leadership at the agency was critical.

“Americans are right to be angry about it, and I am angry about it,” Obama said in a televised statement from the White House. “I will not tolerate this kind of behavior in any agency but especially in the IRS, given the power that it has and the reach that it has into all of our lives.”

Meanwhile, the FBI is investigating potential civil rights violations at the IRS, Attorney General Eric Holder said earlier Wednesday. Other potential crimes include making false statements to authorities and violating the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal employees from engaging in some partisan political activities, Holder said.

Miller, a 25-year IRS veteran, took over the agency in November, when the five-year term of Commissioner Douglas Shulman ended.

In an email to employees, Miller said, “This has been an incredibly difficult time for the IRS given the events of the past few days, and there is a strong and immediate need to restore public trust in the nation’s tax agency. I believe the Service will benefit from having a new acting commissioner in place during this challenging period.”

At the time when tea party groups were targeted, Miller was a deputy commissioner who oversaw the division that dealt with tax-exempt organizations.

An inspector general’s report does not indicate that Miller knew conservative groups were being targeted until after the practice ended. But documents show that Miller repeatedly failed to tell Congress that tea party groups were being targeted, even after he had been briefed on the matter.

The IRS said Miller was first informed on May, 3, 2012, that applications for tax-exempt status by tea party groups were inappropriately singled out for extra, sometimes burdensome scrutiny.

At least twice after the briefing, Miller wrote letters to members of Congress to explain the process of reviewing applications for tax-exempt status without revealing that tea party groups had been targeted. On July 25, 2012, Miller testified before the House Ways and Means oversight subcommittee but again was not forthcoming on the issue — despite being asked about it.

Miller was scheduled to testify Friday at a Ways and Means hearing. It was not immediately clear whether he would still testify.

Holder announced Tuesday that the Justice department had opened a criminal investigation, joining three committees in Congress that are looking into the matter.

“I can assure you and the American people that we will take a dispassionate view of this,” Holder told the House Judiciary Committee at a hearing Wednesday. “This will not be about parties, this will not be about ideological persuasions. Anybody who has broken the law will be held accountable.”

But, Holder said, it will take time to determine if there was criminal wrongdoing.

Legal experts, however, said it could be difficult to prove that IRS officials or employees knowingly violated the civil rights of conservative groups. If there is a violation, the experts said, investigators can sometimes prove more easily that officials made false statements or obstructed justice in some other way.

“I think it’s doubtful that any of these knuckleheads who engaged in the conduct that gave rise to this controversy knowingly believed that they were violating the law,” said David H. Laufman, a former Justice Department lawyer. “But that remains to be seen. That’s what investigations are for.”

“It’s more likely than not that,” he said, “the conduct at issue here may constitute violations of IRS rules or standards or protocols or procedures but may fall short of what is necessary to constitute a criminal offense.”

Even if IRS agents broke criminal laws in targeting conservative groups, investigators may have to prove they knowingly did it, a high standard, said Brian Galle, a former Justice Department lawyer who teaches law at Boston College.

“If the reason they were pursuing them was in order to punish them for their political activity, there might be a First Amendment concern there,” Galle said. “On the other hand, if the reason that they were looking for tea party groups is because there had been press reports about this new group, the tea party, who was aimed primarily at getting more conservative people elected to office, then they were just responding to the evidence. It really depends on what their motives were.”

Wednesday’s hearing was the first of several in Congress that will focus on the issue.

The House Oversight Committee announced Wednesday that it would hold a hearing May 22, featuring Lois Lerner, the head of the IRS division that oversees tax exempt organizations, and former IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman, whose five-year term ended in November.

The Senate Finance Committee announced a hearing for next Tuesday.

At Wednesday’s hearing, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said Lerner misled him and his staff when they asked her about complaints from conservative groups that they were being harassed by the IRS.

“I know for a fact, Lois Lerner lied to me, she lied to our personal staff, she lied to committee staff, she lied in correspondence,” Jordan said.

Lerner learned about the targeting on June 29, 2011, according to a report Tuesday by the inspector general.

The report said ineffective management at the IRS allowed agents to improperly target tea party and other conservative groups for more than 18 months.

The report said that while their applications for tax exempt status languished, tea party groups were asked a host of inappropriate questions, including: Who are your donors? What are the political affiliations of officers? What issues are important to the organization, and what are your positions on those issues? Will any officers in the group run for public office? Where do you work?

The IRS started targeting groups with “Tea Party,” ”Patriots” or “9/12 Project” in their applications for tax exempt status in March 2010, the inspector general’s report said. By August 2010, it was part of the written criteria used to flag groups for additional scrutiny.

Colleen M. Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, said Wednesday that no union employees had been disciplined, as far as she knew. She noted that the IG’s report said agents were not motivated by political bias.

Kelley told The Associated Press that low-level workers could not have specifically targeted conservative groups for long without the approval of supervisors. However, she noted, there are many levels of supervisors at the IRS.

“No processes or procedures or anything like that would ever be done just by front-line employees without any management involvement,” Kelley said. “That’s just not how it operates.”

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

The Senate plan includes a spending increase of $1.4 billion, or about 4.4 percent, over the current fiscal year, including $403 million in new spending on housing, education, mental health and veteran services programs.

Senate leaders said the plan will close what they describe as a $1.2 billion budget gap.

The proposal relies on new revenues from a joint transportation plan agreed to with the House last month. That proposal will generate about $500 million in new revenues, including hikes in gasoline and cigarette taxes.

WBZ NewsRadio 1030′s Carl Stevens Reports

The Senate plan, like the House budget, also taps the state’s rainy day fund for $350 million, which would leave the fund with a balance of about $1.3 billion.

The House passed a $34 billion budget last month that also increases total state spending about 4 percent over current year levels. The Senate plans to begin debating its budget proposal next week.

Both legislative spending proposals are smaller than the 7 percent spending increase sought by Patrick. Patrick had asked for nearly $2 billion in new taxes, including a hike in the state income tax coupled with a lowering of the state sales tax.

The governor said the additional spending is needed to upgrade the state’s aging transportation infrastructure — including the MBTA — and ensure that every child in Massachusetts, regardless of family income, receives a quality education.

Committee Chairman Stephen Brewer outlined some of the highlights of the Senate’s plan.

Brewer said the proposal includes a $166 million increase in local aid spending over the current fiscal year. He said it also includes $900 million in unrestricted government aid and increases spending for local education, known as Chapter 70 funds.

He said the budget plan would increase funding for mental health services by more than $30 million, maintaining 626 inpatient mental health beds, including 45 beds at Taunton State Hospital

Brewer, D-Barre, acknowledged that while the Massachusetts’ economy is getting stronger, the state still faces “a number of fiscal challenges as we continue to recover from the economic collapse five years ago.”

Officials from the University of Massachusetts say the Senate plan doesn’t include enough money for the university system to institute a tuition-and-fee freeze during the upcoming academic year.

Officials said they need $478 million, which Patrick proposed and the House adopted. The Senate has proposed $455 million — an increase over the current $439 million, but not enough to guarantee a tuition freeze. Officials hope to push the Senate to adopt an amendment matching the higher number.

Other highlights of the Senate budget plan include:

— A $6.5 million increase in funding designed to eliminate the existing 1,500-person waiting list for elderly residents who need home care help to avoid going into assisted living facilities or nursing homes;

— Another $15 million to provide subsidized child care to families on a state waiting list;

— More than $57 million in rental assistance for low income families;

— About $8 million for the state’s “Youth-at-Risk Summer Jobs” program.

Brewer said the budget doesn’t pay for the new programs by relying on deep cuts to core government services.

Senate Republican Leader Bruce Tarr praised the Senate budget plan, saying it “clearly rejects once again the massive tax and spend measures that have been advocated by Gov. Patrick.”

He said it also provides a “killed in the line of duty” death benefit for the family of MIT police officer Sean Collier, who investigators believe was killed by the Boston Marathon bombing suspects. Tarr warned against relying too heavily on tax increases to balance the budget.

“We need to ensure that the spending proposed … can be sustained without continuing to resort to one-time fixes and burdening struggling household budgets with more taxes,” Tarr said in a statement.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

Yes, this means you, Americans age 48 to 68 who are calling the shots in Washington these days.

Your first president, Bill Clinton, didn’t turn out so badly, except for that little lapse of personal judgement that essentially undermined his second term, and allowing his greedy buddies to gut the financial regulations that might have prevented our economic collapse.

Listen to Jon’s commentary:

But that was just a warmup for our second boomer president, George W. Bush, who didn’t start out badly, but was overwhelmed after 9/11. Like a lot of boomers, Bush didn’t know his own limitations or those of his cronies, and thus thought Brownie was doing a heckuva job dealing with Hurricane Katrina. And in Iraq, he confused his own “vision” with the best interests of the country, without letting annoying facts get in the way.

Now we’re on baby-boomer president number three, and the same generational flaws just keep on emerging.

As we’ve seen this week, our president and his fellow boomers at the IRS and Justice Department think they and their agenda are what’s best for us, without regard to long-established traditions of governmental balance and restraint.

Please, all of you, in both parties, stop it. You aren’t very impressive, and the reality of you certainly doesn’t match your colossal self-regard.

I realize your job isn’t easy. Many of your constituents are self-serving, narrow-minded boomers who’ve created the litigation-crazy, polarized culture you have to try to operate in.

But it’s up to you to try to transcend your constraints, and lead in a balanced, thoughtful way that values humility over ego. And for the past 17 years or so, you haven’t been getting it done.

Time to update your nickname, the “me generation.” Let’s just call you the “epic fail” generation.

You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.

BOSTON (AP) — British Prime Minister David Cameron visited an impromptu memorial that sprang up near the site of the Boston Marathon bombings, striking a combative tone Tuesday in saying that democratic and multiracial countries like the United States and Britain will never give in to terrorists who feed on “the poisonous narrative” of violence, extremism and victimhood.

WBZ NewsRadio 1030′s Karen Twomey reports

Cameron was accompanied by Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick when he visited the makeshift memorial that includes T-shirts, letters, running shoes and other items in the city’s Copley Square. The memorial grew in the wake of the April 15 explosions at the marathon finish line that killed three people and injured more than 260.

The United Kingdom, Cameron said, has experienced that sort of terrorism in London and elsewhere and knows to stand up and say terrorists will never win.

“Obviously, what we do for the future, we have to do everything we can to work with law enforcement agencies to maintain our vigilance,” Cameron said after walking through the memorial amid tight security. “But, I think, above all, we have to say very loudly, very proudly, very clearly that we are proud to live in a country — whether it is America or Britain — that is a democracy, that loves freedom, that loves diversity, that is a multiracial country and we’ll never give in to terrorists.”

Cameron is in Boston to offer his condolences and discuss lessons that can be learned from the bombings. The trip follows a White House visit Monday during which the prime minister met with President Barack Obama.

“One of the things we have to do is we have to challenge the poisonous narrative on which they feed, a narrative of violence, extremism, victimhood,” Cameron said. “We have to challenge that narrative and that’s not the work of months or years, it’s the work of our generation, and I’m determined we’ll do our bit to challenge it to make sure the terrorists never win and that freedom always does.”

The attacks sparked one of the biggest manhunts in Massachusetts, which ended days later when one bombing suspect died after a gunbattle with police and the other, his younger brother, was arrested. The brothers also are blamed for the shooting death of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus police officer days after the bombing.

The younger brother is recovering in a federal prison hospital.

“There is always more to do. Look, there is really a vital role for law enforcement, a really vital role for intelligence, there is a tough side to all of this that we have to get right,” Cameron said. “But in the end, how do we do it? We do it by standing for the values we believe in, for freedom, for democracy, for the fact we’re proud to live in an open and tolerant society.

“It is hard to believe people can do these things to countries like ours when we are freedom-loving, when we are democracies, when we do value people’s rights, but these things do happen and we have to fight them and challenge them. That’s what I know you are going to do right here in Boston,” Cameron said before leaving the site.

___

Associated Press writer Rodrique Ngowi can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/ngowi

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

Menino’s announcement in March that he would not seek a sixth term set off a scramble for the office.

City elections officials say 24 prospective candidates met Monday’s deadline for pulling nomination papers. But that’s only a first step in running for the mayor’s office and it’s likely that many will fall short of the 3,000 signatures of registered voters needed by next Monday to qualify for the preliminary election in September.

Two candidates have already met the signature threshold: Suffolk District Attorney Daniel Conley and state Rep. Martin Walsh.

The winner of the November election will become the city’s first new mayor since Menino took office in 1993.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

The General Accounting Office issued a report in 1991 that found 134 House members had bounced 8,331 checks at the U.S. House of Representatives bank. There were no penalties for bouncing the checks, in effect granting the politicians interest-free loans from the money their colleagues deposited.

Markey was among those found to have written checks with insufficient funds.

Massachusetts GOP Chairman Kirsten Hughes said Monday that Markey “got a sweetheart deal from an exclusive bank to avoid the fees that working families have to pay when they overdraw their accounts.”

An aide to Markey quickly fired back, saying Republicans are trying to distract attention away from a spate of stories detailing how Markey’s Republican challenger Gabriel Gomez took a $281,000 tax deduction for promising not to alter his historic Cohasset home.

“Leave it to the national Republicans to dig up a 20-year old news story about unintentional overdrafts from members of Congress that Ed Markey apologized for, and voted to prevent from ever happening again,” said Markey spokesman Andrew Zucker in a statement.

Markey supporters noted that he was cleared of wrongdoing by the Justice Department and that no taxpayer dollars were involved. Markey ultimately voted along with other members of the House to close the bank.

Earlier Monday, the National Republican Senatorial Committee released an Internet video faulting Markey for writing “bad checks from an exclusive Congressional Bank that was eventually shut down during the surrounding scandal.”

“Perhaps bouncing a check or two could be explained as an honest mistake, but writing 92 bad checks suggests something far worse,” the group’s communications director Brad Dayspring said in a press release.

Zucker, meanwhile, said Gomez has yet to answer critical questions about the tax break he took on his Cohasset home, and still won’t say how much he benefited from it.

Gomez said he’s done nothing wrong and has criticized Markey for suggesting he’d done anything to break the rules.

Under the deal, Gomez and his wife entered into an agreement with the nonprofit National Architectural Trust in late 2005 which allowed them to take the tax deduction on the home they bought for $2.1 million in 2004.

As part of the agreement, the couple gave the trust control of the facade of the home, which was counted as a monetary donation to the group. Local bylaws had already prevented changes to the facade of the home raising questions about whether the easement awarded to the trust had monetary value.

Gomez, who has already released six years of his tax returns, has also continued to press Markey to release his returns.

Markey campaign officials have said they plan to release some of his tax returns.

Markey and Gomez are vying for the seat left vacant by the resignation of John Kerry when he became secretary of state. The June 25 special election is the third Senate election in Massachusetts in the past four years.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

BOSTON (CBS) – The Obama administration is stocked with world-class spin artists, but I doubt any of them are going to figure out how to quickly turn the page on the story of how the IRS targeted the tax-exempt status applications of Tea Party groups and other conservative organizations for special scrutiny, actions IRS officials un-persuasively insist were not politically motivated.

Yes, of course they weren’t. And by the way, the check’s in the mail.

You will be hearing about this one for quite awhile because it offers up a scenario that couldn’t be more offensive to your average American – government power, in this case the special power held by the IRS – being abused for political purposes.

Listen to Jon’s commentary:

We can’t and shouldn’t tolerate it, and I’m pretty confident the public won’t stand for any effort to turn this quickly into “old news.”

But on top of their outrageous abuse of power, whoever’s responsible has also endangered an important task of government – protecting us from being defrauded.

Since the Supreme Court did away with many restrictions on independent political advertising, there’s been a deluge of applications by groups for tax-exempt status given to “social welfare” organizations that spend a majority of their money on non-political activities.

They don’t have to disclose their donors. And it seems to me, if any group, whatever their political bias, is going to raise and spend tons of dough and be a player in a campaign, it’s in the public interest to know who they are, and where their money comes from, and to not have to subsidize them by waiving their tax liabilities if they’re exploiting a legal loophole.

But after this fiasco, the ability of the IRS to perform this important screening function is hopelessly compromised.

Nice work, partisans. Good luck putting a positive spin on this one.

You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.

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You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. and 12:25 p.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.

BOSTON (CBS) – The Obama administrative is on the defensive over the way it handled the deadly attacks in Benghazi, Libya.

The September attack killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three others, including Winchester native Glen Doherty.

The political struggle over Benghazi has become a conflict over semantics.

The latest battleground: an email from a senior State Department official the day after the attack identifying it as a premeditated act by “Islamic terrorists,” well before UN Ambassador Susan Rice publicly described it as the spontaneous work of “extremists.”

The Republicans see a potential smoking gun.

“I would call on the President to order the State Department to release this email so that the American people can see it,” Rep. John Boehner said.

But the administration says there’s nothing to it.

So, was it terrorists or extremists?

“I think those two words are pretty interchangeable,” said Professor Joseph Wippl who worked for the CIA for 30 years. “What we have the right to demand is a review of what happened, and if there were some mistakes made, an admission that there was a mistake made, but at the end of the day, I don’t think it could have been avoided.”

But amid the finger pointing, some in Congress are calling for an end to the partisan posturing.

“We need the truth,” Rep. Joe Kennedy III told Jon Keller. “I certainly hope that given the tragedy that transpired, the tragic loss of life, of four Americans, that we do not fall into partisan politics.”

The White House held an off-the-record briefing on Benghazi for a select group of reporters Friday, amid new accounts of editing of State Department statements to downplay the terrorist nature of the attack.

Patrick’s press secretary said he will be in Ireland from Wednesday through Friday next week.

Patrick is planning to speak at an e-Health conference and participate in a Digital Health and Life Sciences Trade Summit.

He’s also scheduled to meet with Irish business leaders whose companies have a presence in Massachusetts. Patrick will also meet with the prime minister and minister of foreign affairs and trade.

Patrick is planning to make the trip without any state secretaries or commissioners accompanying him.

In February, Patrick led a Massachusetts trade delegation to Colombia to pursue new business opportunities with the South American nation.

Murray has said she isn’t using any state funds to pay for her trip.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

COHASSET (CBS) – Republican Senate nominee Gabriel Gomez is taking heat over a tax deduction he took worth more than a quarter of a million dollars.

According to the Boston Globe, Gomez and his wife claimed a special income tax deduction of more than $280,000, by promising not to make any changes to their historic Cohasset home.

Gabriel Gomez’s Cohasset home

But it’s now putting Gomez in a tough political spot.

“For Congressman Markey to suggest that I’ve done anything to break the rules is beyond disgraceful, it’s dishonorable,” Gomez said about the Markey campaign’s claim that he, “bilked taxpayers.”

“I’ve worked for everything I’ve done and I’ve earned everything I’ve done,” said Gomez. “Only in Washington could a career politician hack, slam the American Dream.”

It’s not his personal wealth that’s politically problematic for Gomez here. It’s the prospect that voters might flinch at the sight of a populist candidate taking a rich man’s tax break.

State Democratic Party Chair John Walsh was quick to pounce. “Resources are tight in Washington, we could have used that 300 grand,” said Walsh.

Thousands of others have taken the same tax break, aimed at encouraging preservation of historic homes, and in 1980 the House – including Congressman Markey – voted unanimously to continue it.

But that doesn’t make the story any less tricky for Gomez at a time when he’s still introducing himself to voters.

“They could probably use the money a little more wisely, the town of Cohasset there,” said one resident. “I don’t get a tax break on mine.”

When asked if he would take the tax break again, Gomez responded, “I followed the rules, it’s as simple as that.”

Gomez has called for a broad review of corporate and personal tax loopholes to help close the federal deficit, and he told WBZ-TV that he’d support adding this tax break to the list.

BOSTON (CBS/AP) — U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren is calling on Congress to stop student loan interest rates from doubling this summer.

The Massachusetts Democrat introduced a bill Tuesday which would let students pay the same interest rate on their government loans as banks.

Student loan interest rates are set to jump from 3.4 to 6.8 percent in July. Warren said banks can borrow from the Federal Reserve at an interest rate of less than 1 percent.

“Right now students are being crushed by loans,” Warren told WBZ-TV’s Jon Keller.

In a speech on the Senate floor, Warren said supporting college graduates is critical to a strong economy and is as much of a priority as providing banks with cheap access to credit.

Warren said her bill would let students borrow funds at the same rate as banks borrow from the Federal Reserve for one year.

“The plan is to give the students the same deal we are giving the big banks,” Warren said.

And for days leading up to the hearing, DC partisans have been doing what they do best, trying to put their partisan spin on this horrible story.

Listen to Jon’s commentary:

The Republicans claim you’ll hear evidence that the Obama administration badly bungled our response to the attack and then tried to cover up their incompetence with a bunch of spin about what happened.

The Democrats have branded the whole thing a reprehensible GOP charade aimed only at damaging the president and Hillary Clinton politically.

Given what we know about the craven, self-serving behavior on both sides of the aisle down there, I’m sure there’s plenty of truth in both lines of attack.

But I hope I speak for at least some of us when I say, whatever else they wind up doing, give us the truth about what happened. Because we’re good and sick of being lied to about foreign affairs and the safety of the men and women who serve us.

I’m old enough to remember being lied to on a daily basis about the status of the Vietnam War, where we were always on the verge of victory, until it became clear we weren’t.

Was Saddam Hussein an evil guy who once used chemical weapons? Yes, but we know we were given a bunch of spin when the case for the invasion of Iraq was made.

If the current administration made mistakes in Benghazi, it’s not an impeachable offense. The fog of war is always hard to see through clearly.

But neither party should ever get a pass on giving us bogus spin about such serious stuff.

So drop the partisan posturing, all of you, and give us some desperately-needed truth.

You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.

BOSTON (CBS) — Lawmakers on Beacon Hill asked tough questions Monday about a potential 2024 Boston Olympics.

But none of the questions were tougher than those about security, an issue more pressing than ever in the wake of the marathon bombings. 

“We can certainly say we’re not looking for Swiss Army knives anymore coming into venues,” Stephen Mirabile said.

Mirabile’s security firm has worked on Olympic Games dating back to the Atlanta Summer Games in 1996.

And what happened there, in an unsecured area designed for the general public to share in the buzz of the games, has colored Olympic security planning ever since.

“It’s important to determine the atmosphere that you want to have,” Mirabile said. “The atmosphere of the Boston Marathon is everybody come out and enjoy the day.”

“Do we put a big fence line around the whole state of Massachusetts and make them go through metal detectors? How far do you go?” he asked. “And I think that the law enforcement and intelligence understanding of what level is required for that event is important.”

Mirabile, a state resident, says Boston’s security planning and reaction to the attack are admired around the world. He says he’s confident major events here in the future, including a potential Olympics, will be as safe as possible.

Sullivan, who called Gomez an “Obama Republican” during the primary, stood alongside the former Navy SEAL Tuesday and called him “a leader for Massachusetts.”

Sullivan also criticized Gomez’s Democratic opponent, Congressman Edward Markey for posting an Internet campaign video. At one point in the video, Gomez is juxtaposed with an image of Osama bin Laden.

Sullivan called the video “dishonorable.”

Newton Mayor Setti Warren defended Markey and faulted Gomez for speaking out last year on behalf of what Warren called a “right-wing, secretly-funded special interest group” that criticized President Obama’s handling of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

The image of bin Laden in Markey’s video comes from a 22-minute video produced by the group.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

Among those who testified in favor of the bill on Tuesday was Eric MacLeish, an attorney who represented victims in the case that led to an $85 million sexual abuse settlement against the Boston Archdiocese. MacLeish later revealed that he had been abused as a boy at a boarding school in England.

MacLeish says his own experience led him to understand how difficult it is even for adults to come to terms with past events.

Under current Massachusetts law, victims have only until age 21 to file a lawsuit, though in some cases an older person can file suit within three years of their first realization that they had harmed by the abuse.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

Before and during the game, coaches work the refs, a.k.a. political reporters, hoping for favorable treatment. Once the game starts, both teams try to set the pace, provoking a running game if that’s their strength, slowing it down to a crawl if it isn’t.

And if you’re the home team, as Ed Markey is in the U.S. Senate race in our relentlessly Democratic state, you do your best to whip up the partisan crowd, the better to intimidate the visitors.

Listen to Jon’s commentary:

All these tactics were on display Monday when Markey once again hammered away at his opening gambit in this race, demanding that Gabriel Gomez sign the “People’s pledge” they used in the Brown-Warren race to restrain the role of independent outside groups.

Markey, who will raise and spent vast amounts of conventional campaign donations from special-interest groups during this race, accused Gomez of “welcoming vast amounts of undisclosed” campaign money by refusing to sign the pledge.

And he raised the spectre of Gomez in league a pantheon of right-wing villains, from Karl Rove to the NRA, even though he acknowledged there’s no evidence of their actual support for Gomez, who will likely prove too moderate for many conservative donors.

In response, the Gomez campaign has pointed to millions in Markey donations from special-interest groups and suggested they’d welcome a debate over who has the better ethics.

But a website that tracks how members vote on their donors interests gave Markey some of the best marks in Washington last year.

Both campaigns want to set the terms of the debate, we get it.

As a voter, I prefer to see them debate the issues that matter to me. How about you?

You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.

The U.S. Senate passed a bill Monday that would require businesses to collect taxes for products sold online.

The money would go to local and state governments that are strapped for cash.

For Massachusetts, that would have meant more than $130-million last year alone.

Current law only requires retailers to charge sales taxes if they have a physical presence in a state, which means big stores like Wal-Mart and Target almost always collect taxes on the Internet.

Small retailers, along with companies like eBay and Amazon, have not been subject to that, and they’re fighting it.

The bill next goes to the U.S. House where it could face opposition.

BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts U.S. Senate candidates Edward Markey and Gabriel Gomez continue to squabble over the role of outside money and special interests in the campaign.

Democrat Markey staged an event at a Boston hotel on Monday in which he sat next to an empty chair, symbolizing Republican Gomez’ refusal to sign a version of the “people’s pledge,” designed to limit the influence of outside group.

WBZ NewsRadio 1030′s Carl Stevens reports

Republican Scott Brown and Democrat Elizabeth Warren signed a similar version of the pledge in their 2012 Senate race.

By refusing to sign the pledge, Markey said Gomez is inviting special interests to pour money into the race.

Gomez has tried to turn the table by demanding that Markey return millions in contributions he’s received from political action committees during the Democrat’s more than three decades in Congress.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

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You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. and 12:25 p.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.

Markey sent a letter to Gomez on Friday asking that he join him at the Omni Parker House in Boston on Monday to sign the so-called “People’s Pledge.”

Gomez, who has refused to sign the pledge, responded by demanding Markey return the millions he’s received from political action committees during his three decades in Congress.

RELATED: Poll Shows Close Race

Gomez also said Markey should donate to charity the more than $1 million spent by outside groups on his behalf during the just-completed Democratic primary, which Markey won.

Republican Scott Brown and Democrat Elizabeth Warren signed a similar pledge last year.

The special election in June 25.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

BOSTON (CBS) – Rep. Ed Markey has a slim lead over Gabriel Gomez in a new poll in the U.S. Senate race in Massachusetts.

The survey from Public Policy Polling released Friday shows Markey leading 44-percent to 40.

The margin of error for the survey is +/-2.5 percent.

Read: Poll Results (.pdf)

However, Gomez, a Republican, has a 16-point lead among independents, leading the Democratic congressman, 47-to-31.

“To put Gomez’s 16 point lead with independents in context though, our final poll in the 2010 special election found Scott Brown winning them by a 64/32 margin. So he still has a long way to go to replicate the formula that let Brown pull off that upset,” researchers said in a statement released with the poll results.

The poll found Gomez has a favorability rating of 41-percent while 27-percent have an unfavorable opinion of him.

Voters are more divided on Markey, with 44-percent holding a positive view of him to 41-percent with a negative one.

Sen. Donna Soucy, a Manchester Democrat, said Thursday the bill makes restrictions on marijuana possession more lenient than alcohol or tobacco. There are no age parameters in the House-passed bill, so technically children could use the drug. She also said the penalties don’t ramp up for minors who are repeat offenders.

A bill prohibiting the classification of hemp as a controlled substance to be grown for the industrial use of its fibers and seed oil was retained to be studied further.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

They lapped up Markey’s stump speech about how Gabriel Gomez and the Republicans want to violate women’s rights, put kids at risk by keeping guns readily available, torture seniors by cutting their benefits, and otherwise dial back our society to the time of Cro-Magnon man.

It was all pretty predictable, and par for the partisan course.

Listen to Jon’s commentary:

After all, the Republicans have already started giving Markey a brisk pounding. In his concession speech Tuesday night, GOP candidate Dan Winslow called Markey “the lobbyist’s candidate,” and “the weakest candidate that the Democratic machine has nominated for the U.S. Senate in living history.”

But there was something about the Congressman’s remarks that was a little troubling.

Unless I dozed off briefly and missed it, Markey said nothing about jobs and the economy.

Later Wednesday, I caught up with Gomez, who also pointed out Markey’s omission. But beyond bemoaning joblessness, debt and the deficit, Gomez so far has had little to say on those subjects himself. His website statements on economic issues are an exercise in avoidance.

Meanwhile, economic malaise rolls on, here and overseas. Even China is now stalled.

And neither party seems to have much of a clue what to do about it.

So, what else is new?

But their political failure, both nationally and locally, to even discuss the issue in any meaningful way is demoralizing. We deserve better, I think.

So, when are we going to start demanding better?

You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.

BOSTON (CBS) – What happened Tuesday in Massachusetts politics?

In a way, it was just the latest chapter of an old story.

For more than two decades, in spite of the occasional Republican governor sneaking past security, ours has been arguably the bluest state of them all, to the point where you realized there weren’t two parties anymore in any realistic sense.

Instead, there are two camps – the political insiders, and the political outsiders.

Listen to Jon’s commentary:

Even as Democrats consolidated their lock on all major elective offices, the outsiders have been making inroads. Deval Patrick was about as far outside the Democratic Party power structure as you could get back in 2005 when he started running for governor; when he won the primary, he bellowed to the crowd: “Let them hear you on Beacon Hill!”

And even though Elizabeth Warren was fully embraced by the insiders, she’s another example of someone with no campaign experience rising quickly to the top.

Now, it’s Gabriel Gomez’s turn.

His victory in the GOP primary Tuesday was a clear win for the outsiders. But he’s outnumbered, big-time; the total number of votes cast for all three Republican candidates was less than Stephen Lynch’s losing total.

And while Ed Markey is surely a consummate insider, he’s also a seasoned politician with the backing of the most effective and well-organized political machine in our state’s history.

The insiders rule here for a reason – they know where the votes are and how to get them out, and that is the name of the game.

So can Gomez pull a Scott Brown and score another upset for the outsiders?

It’s happened before, but it’ll take a lot of work and luck to make it happen again.

You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.

About 150 people attended the town hall meeting, where Ayotte defended her vote against a bill that would have required criminal and mental health background checks for people buying guns online or at gun shows.

After the vote two weeks ago, the New Hampshire Republican, a former prosecutor, expressed concern that expanded background checks could harm the rights of gun owners.

“I’m just wondering why the burden of my mother being gunned down in the halls of her elementary school isn’t as important,” WMUR-TV reported Erica Lafferty asking.

Lafferty’s mother, Dawn Hochsprung, was the principal of Sandy Hook Elementary School, where 20 pupils and six educators were slain in December. She died after lunging at the gunman to try to stop him from firing.

Ayotte said she was sorry for what Lafferty has been through.

“And I think that ultimately when we look at what happened in Sandy Hook we should have a fuller discussion to make sure that doesn’t happen again,” she said.

Ayotte said she hoped to find some common ground but that she didn’t think the enhanced background checks that she voted against would have changed the outcome in the Newtown shootings.

“Mental health is the one area that I hope we can agree on going forward to work on because that seems to be the overriding issue on the list and that is why I have been trying to work across the aisle on that issue,” she said.

Local and out-of-state groups who opposed Ayotte’s vote held up signs that read “Shame on You.” Ayotte supporters countered with signs reading “I support Kelly.”

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

In primaries on Tuesday, Markey won the Democratic nomination and Gomez won the Republican nod, according to unofficial returns.

Markey defeated fellow U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch. Gomez won a three-way primary against former U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan and state Rep. Daniel Winslow.

Markey has served in the U.S. House since 1976 and is the dean of the state’s congressional delegation. He had the early backing of Kerry, who resigned from the Senate to become U.S. secretary of state.

Gomez is a newcomer to politics. He’s the son of Colombian immigrants and learned English in kindergarten. He became a Navy pilot and SEAL, earned an MBA at Harvard and launched a private equity career.

Watch Gabriel Gomez Victory Speech

The June 25 special election will be the state’s second for the U.S. Senate in four years. Turnout was light for the primary, which was overshadowed by the deadly Boston Marathon bombing.

Even before the April 15 bombing, the campaign had failed to capture the attention of voters compared with the 2010 special election following the death of longtime Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy. Former Republican Sen. Scott Brown won the seat, surprising Democrats, but was ousted last year in another high-profile race by Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren.

Watch Ed Markey Victory Speech

A win would help Senate Democrats maintain a caucus edge of 55-45 as they press forward on major issues including immigration and gun control.

The Boston Marathon bombing, which killed three people and injured hundreds forced the candidates to temporarily suspend their campaigns. The bombing also brought national security and terrorism issues to the fore in a race that was expected to turn on questions of the economy, gun control, taxes, immigration and abortion.

In the Democratic primary, Markey staked out more liberal positions against Lynch, a former ironworker who tried to appeal to the party’s working- and middle-class base.

Lynch had to explain why he was the only member of the state’s House delegation to vote against President Barack Obama’s 2010 health care law, while Markey, who won his first elected office while in law school, fended off efforts to portray him as a Washington insider.

Markey was better-funded, having raised $4.8 million through the end of the last reporting period, compared with $1.5 million for Lynch. He also benefited from outside spending. Of the more than $2.2 million spent by outside groups, nearly 84 percent went to Markey, an Associated Press review of Federal Election Commission reports found.

On the GOP side, Gomez tried to portray himself as the new face of the Republican Party. The son of Colombian immigrants, he learned English in kindergarten, then went on to become a Navy pilot and SEAL, earn an MBA at Harvard and launch a private equity career.

Sullivan pointed to his national security resume, which includes helping investigate the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks and the failed attempt to blow up an airliner using shoe bombs.

Winslow said he was the only candidate with experience in all three branches of the government. After 12 years as a private attorney, he was appointed to a judgeship on the state’s district court in 1995. He served eight years and left to join former Gov. Mitt Romney’s administration as chief legal counsel.

An independent candidate, Richard Heos, of Woburn, will be on the ballot with the Democratic and Republican primary winners.

Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick named his former chief of staff, William “Mo” Cowan, to fill Kerry’s seat on an interim basis until after the special election.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

Unofficial returns show Markey defeating fellow U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch in Tuesday’s Democratic primary.

In the June 25 special election, Markey will face businessman and former Navy SEAL Gabriel Gomez, who won a three-way Republican primary against former U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan and state Rep. Daniel Winslow.

Markey has served in the U.S. House since 1976 and is the dean of the state’s congressional delegation. He had the early backing of Kerry, who resigned from the Senate to become U.S. secretary of state.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

Unofficial returns showed Gomez defeating former U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan and state Rep. Daniel Winslow.

In the June 25 special election, Gomez will face the winner of the Democratic primary, U.S. Rep. Edward Markey.

Gomez is a newcomer to politics. He’s the son of Colombian immigrants and learned English in kindergarten. He became a Navy pilot and SEAL, earned an MBA at Harvard and launched a private equity career.

Kerry resigned from the Senate to become U.S. secretary of state.

The special election will be the state’s second for the U.S. Senate in four years. Turnout was light for the primary, which was overshadowed by the deadly Boston Marathon bombing.

Even before the April 15 bombing, the campaign had failed to capture the attention of voters compared with the 2010 special election following the death of longtime Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy. Former Republican Sen. Scott Brown won the seat, surprising Democrats, but was ousted last year in another high-profile race by Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren.

A win would help Senate Democrats maintain a caucus edge of 55-45 as they press forward on major issues including immigration and gun control.

The Boston Marathon bombing, which killed three people and injured hundreds forced the candidates to temporarily suspend their campaigns. The bombing also brought national security and terrorism issues to the fore in a race that was expected to turn on questions of the economy, gun control, taxes, immigration and abortion.

In the Democratic primary, Markey staked out more liberal positions against Rep. Stephen Lynch, a former ironworker who tried to appeal to the party’s working- and middle-class base.

Lynch had to explain why he was the only member of the state’s House delegation to vote against President Barack Obama’s 2010 health care law, while Markey, who won his first elected office while in law school, fended off efforts to portray him as a Washington insider.

Markey was better-funded, having raised $4.8 million through the end of the last reporting period, compared with $1.5 million for Lynch. He also benefited from outside spending. Of the more than $2.2 million spent by outside groups, nearly 84 percent went to Markey, an Associated Press review of Federal Election Commission reports found.

On the GOP side, Gomez tried to portray himself as the new face of the Republican Party. The son of Colombian immigrants, he learned English in kindergarten, then went on to become a Navy pilot and SEAL, earn an MBA at Harvard and launch a private equity career.

Sullivan pointed to his national security resume, which includes helping investigate the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks and the failed attempt to blow up an airliner using shoe bombs.

Winslow said he was the only candidate with experience in all three branches of the government. After 12 years as a private attorney, he was appointed to a judgeship on the state’s district court in 1995. He served eight years and left to join former Gov. Mitt Romney’s administration as chief legal counsel.

An independent candidate, Richard Heos, of Woburn, will be on the ballot with the Democratic and Republican primary winners.

Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick named his former chief of staff, William “Mo” Cowan, to fill Kerry’s seat on an interim basis until after the special election.

(TM and © Copyright 2013 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

Check: Where Do I Vote?

It’s an important vote, and if you choose to throw it away, don’t be complaining down the road that you don’t like the choice in the final.

Speaking of choices, what do we have on today’s ballot? There’s no one without flaws; no ballot has ever offered a candidate without some.

Listen to Jon’s commentary:

But if you’re struggling to decide, let me help you with a positive take on all five candidates.

On the Democratic side, Congressman Stephen Lynch is a tough, smart guy who worked his way up from poverty. While he votes with his party leadership most of the time, he has shown an impressive willingness to think for himself when it matters.

Watch: Democrats Debate

Congressman Ed Markey is an experienced legislator who knows how to work the levers in Washington. You have him to thank for the early start of daylight savings time.

On the Republican ballot, businessman Gabriel Gomez served his country admirably in the Navy and also has an impressive rags to riches story. He would bring a fresh perspective to the Senate, a place that could use it.

Watch: Republicans Debate

Former US Attorney Michael Sullivan is another working-class guy made good. He would bring useful experience and a strong work ethic to the job.

And State Rep. Dan Winslow is a bright thinker of unquestioned integrity. He could be just hauling in the dough in the legal world; instead, he’s risking much of his fortune for the opportunity to serve.

These are all decent men who deserve your effort to consider and choose one for this important job.

And I repeat, if you don’t vote today, don’t bother to bemoan the choices down the road.

You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.

Check: Where Do I Vote?

The race to fill Secretary of State John Kerry’s former Senate seat has been overshadowed by the Boston Marathon bombings. A light turnout is expected Tuesday.

Watch: Democrats Debate

Two Democrats, both members of the state’s congressional delegation, and three Republicans are vying for their parties’ nominations.

Watch: Republicans Debate

Even before the bombings, the campaign had failed to capture the attention of voters compared with the 2010 special election following the death of longtime Sen. Edward Kennedy. Former Republican Sen. Scott Brown won the seat but was ousted last year in another high-profile race by Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren.

A win would help Senate Democrats maintain a caucus edge of 55-45 as they press forward on major issues like immigration and gun control.

The Marathon bombs disrupted the political race, forcing the candidates to temporarily suspend their campaigns. The bombings also brought national security and terrorism issues to the fore in a race that was expected to turn on questions of the economy, gun control, taxes, immigration and abortion.

The Democratic primary pits U.S. Rep. Edward Markey, who has staked out more liberal positions, against fellow Rep. Stephen Lynch, a former ironworker who has tried to appeal to the party’s working- and middle-class base.

Lynch, 58, has had to explain why he was the only member of the state’s House delegation to vote against President Barack Obama’s 2010 health care law, while Markey, who won his first elected office while in law school, has fended off efforts to portray him as a Washington insider.

Markey, 66, is better-funded, having raised $4.8 million through the end of the last reporting period, compared with $1.5 million for Lynch. He’s also benefited from outside spending. Of the more than $2.2 million spent by outside groups, nearly 84 percent went to Markey, an Associated Press review of Federal Election Commission reports found.

The GOP primary race is pitting three candidates: former U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Michael Sullivan, businessman Gabriel Gomez and state Rep. Daniel Winslow, former legal counsel for ex-governor and 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

Gomez, 47, has tried to portray himself as the new face of the Republican Party. The son of Colombian immigrants, Gomez learned English in kindergarten, then went on to become a Navy pilot and SEAL, earn an MBA at Harvard and launch a private equity career.

Sullivan, 58, has pointed to his national security resume, which includes helping investigate the Sept. 11 attacks and the failed attempt to blow up an airliner using shoe bombs.

The 54-year-old Winslow said he’s the only candidate with experience in all three branches of the government.

After 12 years as a private attorney, Winslow was appointed to a judgeship on the state’s district court in 1995. He served eight years and left to join Romney’s administration as chief legal counsel.

The state’s top elections official, Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin, has said fewer than one in five registered voters could end up casting ballots.

Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. The special Senate election is June 25.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

BOSTON (CBS) – There is just one day to go until voters choose party nominees for the U.S. Senate election in June, and a significant amount of media discussion of the primaries down the stretch has been devoted to analysis of why so few people seem to be paying attention.
This is unfortunate on several levels.

This campaign has struggled to capture public attention, no doubt, but you wonder when stories about what a supposed dud the race is become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Listen to Jon’s commentary:

There was misguided coverage of this type right from the start when Ed Markey was anointed a prohibitive frontrunner because of support from the DC establishment, and the Republican candidates were dismissed as the “B” team because has-beens like Bill Weld and Kerry Healey chose not to run.

But Stephen Lynch has given Markey all he can handle, and the GOP candidates who did emerge have run a lively race that offers genuine choices across the ideological spectrum.

Yes, this race hasn’t generated headlines, but is that the fault of the candidates or the headline writers?

Just one week ago, the WBZ/Boston Globe debate between Lynch and Markey offered a provocative discussion of homeland security issues that couldn’t be more timely, as did a Western Mass. debate the next night. The GOP debate earlier this month was also lively and informative.

Plenty of headline material there, for news organizations and consumers who cared.

I’ll be talking more about the choices on your ballot tomorrow, but if you skip voting because you’ve absorbed the false notion that it doesn’t matter and no one cares, better ask yourself – am I really that apathetic, or just acting that way because I’m supposed to?

You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.

As of May 1, fishermen who chase bottom-dwelling groundfish face cuts that fishermen say will destroy the industry. But regulators say the weak condition of key stocks mandate the cuts.

The worst of the reductions is a year-to-year cut of 77 percent in cod in the Gulf of Maine.

At the rally, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren called for more disaster relief, arguing Washington should be as quick to respond to a disaster for fishermen as it is to respond to disasters that strike farmers.

Fishermen have also called on regulators to extend an interim emergency measure that would allow them to catch more fish this year.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

BOSTON (AP) — The state’s top elections official says fewer than one in five registered voters in Massachusetts could cast ballots in the U.S. Senate primaries.

Secretary of State William Galvin said Monday his “best guess” was for about 550,000 voters to take part in Tuesday’s Democratic primary between U.S. Reps. Edward Markey and Stephen Lynch, down from the nearly 670,000 who cast Democratic ballots in the 2009 special primary following the death of Sen. Edward Kennedy.

Galvin notes that both Markey and Lynch have strong get-out-the-vote operations that could drive up turnout.

Galvin predicts about 200,000 people will cast votes in the Republican primary between Michael Sullivan, Gabriel Gomez and Daniel Winslow.

The winners of Tuesday’s primaries will advance to the June 25 special election to fill the seat formerly held by John Kerry.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

Read: Keller: Time To Pay Attention

U.S. Rep. Lynch’s campaign says all public events have been canceled Monday except for a scheduled rally at the Iron Workers Hall in South Boston at 7 p.m.

Lynch is facing off against fellow U.S. Rep. Edward Markey in the Democratic primary on Tuesday.

State Rep. Daniel Winslow, businessman Gabriel Gomez and former U.S. attorney Michael Sullivan are squaring off in the Republican primary.

The primary winners face each other in the special election June 25 for the seat vacated when John Kerry was named U.S. Secretary of State.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.