What do you think are the top tier races in the state house of reps and state senate? By "top tier," I mean races that could either be picked up by the opposing party, or are the most exciting open seats.
1) Senate President Therese Murray (D) vs. Tom Keyes (R). I suspect that Murray will win by a fairly comfortable margin, but regardless of the final score this is going to turn into all-out warfare. To paraphrase Bob Dylan on World War III: Just put some bleachers up in the sun, and have it out on Highway 6.
2) Bill Manzi (D) vs. Sam Meas (R) (and others). That's assuming they win their primaries, in Baddour's former senate district, which is an extremely premature assumption.
3) Mara Dolan (D) vs. Joe Goodwin (D) (and others). Both extremely impressive from what I know so far, and I can't see the other primary candidates, good as they are, getting to the top in the race to replace Susan Fargo. Dying to see how much the Kearns-Goodwin kid has raised.
4) The GOP Freshmen. Some tough defenses, for guys like Richard Bastien, Geoff Deihl, Peter Durant, Ryan Fattman, Steve Levy, and James Lyons -- many of whom have yet to send pictures for mapoliwithanimals.tumblr.com, but neither have their challengers. That is obviously going to make all the difference.
5) MetroWest Dems. The few serious GOP pick-up opportunities in the House are mostly in Middlesex county, as they are going after Carolyn Dykema, Colleen Garry, Tom Sannicandro, and a few others.