Now that Sam Yoon has thrown his proverbial hat into the ring, officially opening a second at-large city council seat, one would think the temptation to run would be overwhelming for wannabes all over town. We already have a good field of solid candidates: in addition to incumbents John Connolly and Steve Murphy, the list includes Felix G. Arroyo, Doug Bennett, Marty Hogan, Andrew Kenneally, Jean Claude Sanon, and Bob Terrell.
Arroyo already has an impressive $23,000 in his campaign account, and Kenneally has $13,000. Bennett has $7500.
But nobody new has announced, or formed a campaign committee, since the start of the year. And one can't help but notice that so far, there are no women running.
Plenty of rumors flying, though. I can shoot down one: Oiste executive director Giovanna Negretti tells me she is not planning to run. Which is good news for the others, because I think she'd coast to one of the four winning spots.
There's still talk of Catherine O'Neil, Ayanna Pressley (run, Ayanna, run!), April Taylor, and others. (As well as Ego Ezedi, Doug [Update: Dave, not Doug; D'oh!] Halbert, and other dudes.)
There are, however, two women running for the state rep seat left vacant by Sal DiMasi. Susan Passoni has jumped in, along with Lucy Rivera. They're both solid, serious candidates, but Aaron Michlewitz is considered to have the inside lane for that race. Apparently Boston women would rather run for a state legislative office they probably can't win, than a city council seat open for the taking. Which, given my opinion of the Boston City Council, goes to show that girls really are smarter than boys.
And speaking of girls, Tom Menino tells the Globe he won't announce his re-election intentions until the Spring, to which I say: Man up and get in the game, Ms. Chicken-Mayor.
Which leads me to one more thought about women and Boston politics. Would it not be freaking genius for Menino to announce that he's not running -- and that Angela is?
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