Progressives snickered endlessly last night, re-assured that the GOP primary will continue to be a bruising, embarassing, drawn-out affair for MITT ROMNEY and NEWT GINGRICH.

They should count themselves lucky that the South Carolina primary sucked all the oxygen out of the news cycle -- otherwise, someone might have noticed that JOE BIDEN had a spectacularly bad week, managing to make three unbelievably harmful gaffes in a few days.

Sports radio guy and notorious pants salesman DAMON AMENDOLARA breaks it down: RICK PERRY is the Houston Texans: meaning he has no chance. NEWT GINGRICH? The Baltimore Ravens: a long shot to win, has a shaky reputation, known for making bad decisions in the past. Broncos? That would be the Tebow-ish RICK SANTORUM: preachy, really conservative, and we're all ready for his exit.

There is nothing quite like the joy of a convert to the cause of VERMIN SUPREME, the grandaddy of protest candidates who has been occupying the New Hampshire primaries -- and rattling cages of all kinds -- for decades. When you come across a Troll-in-Chief with such a finely-tuned campaign platform and stump speech -- ponies for everyone, and fascism in the name of dental hygeine -- you wonder how you haven't ever heard of him before.

This weekend, while the entire Granite State was gripped with #FITN fever, our operatives leapt into the fray -- even infiltrating the Newt Gingrich phone bank -- to bring you only the finest in Robitussin-splashed gonzo campaign-trail journalism. No Vermin Supreme antic has gone unnoticed, no Santorum joke unmade.

Sometimes the only way to really dive into an early morning presidential debate is with a little cough syrup. Or actually a lot of cough syrup. And so I swallowed a gallon and went to check the happenings in Concord. This is not a metaphor.

The Occupy posse was there. In full effect. And so were Ron Paul's homeys.

Oh, Rick Santorum. We're so going to enjoy your all-too-brief sojourn as a serious presidential candidate.

RICK SANTORUM: I DIDN'T SAY BLACK PEOPLE, I SAID BLAH PEOPLE. Did Santorum really equate black folks with welfare recipients? No, no no no. You must have misunderstood. Rick Santorum would never do that. Certainly not in front of a bunch of cameras during a town hall full of white folks in Iowa, a state where less than 10 percent of welfare recipients are black.

We'd actually be hard-pressed to find many politicians who don't skeeve us just a little (honestly, some of the crap these guys--and gals--are putting out there these days make Clinton's indiscretion seem G-rated. Come to think of it, Clinton is still one of the sexiest politicians we've had in office since the Kennedy days.

I've got to admit that I find the whole casino-gambling/slots business to be very messy. It challenges my libertarian instincts. I've managed largely to reconcile my libertarian positions on speech (I'm a near-absolutist) and in the realm of personal conduct (what J. S. Mill dubbed "self-regarding conduct") with my left-leaning positions on government's establishing a bottom floor beneath which no decent society allows any of its citizens to fall.

Summer has finally arrived (we think) -- that time when Boston transitions from cold and rainy to hot and muggy, at least in theory. Whatever, we've got your ultimate guide to outdoor bliss, plus options for having fun while keeping cool. Cornhole, anyone?

SUMMER PREVIEW!
We said "best summer ever," and we mean it -- this is perhaps the most beautiful Summer Preview guide we've ever put together, starting with Mike Pecci's luminous, summery photos

A friend asked earlier this week what I thought of President Obama's late-night speech to the nation, announcing the death of Osama bin Laden, in view of the widespread celebratory reaction. In particular, she asked, how did I-a lawyer who handles both criminal and civil liberties matters-react to the President's handling of the killing, rather than capture, of the Al-Qaeda leader.

As the historic protests in Wisconsin compete with the historic popular uprisings in the Middle East, Massachusetts labor organizers are rallying in solidarity with WI state employees on Tuesday at 4 pm at the Golden Dome. The participants include the Mass Teachers Association, Mass AFL-CIO, AFSCME Council 93, a couple of SEIU locals, and many more.

The sentencing memorandum filed by Boston federal prosecutors last week, seeking between 33 and 41 months incarceration for convicted former Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner, is no ordinary document. (Today, Judge Douglas Woodlock imposed a sentence of 36 months.)

From the first line, the memorandum reads like the coked-up rant of a paranoid regime, infuriated that any of its subjects would dare speak against it.

Two days ago, as every resident of Massachusetts was daydreaming of what to do if he or she won the Mega Millions (I too was guilty of that), Governor Deval Patrick held an intense marathon of media availability. He gave 15-minute interviews to 19 reporters from all over Mass., including two from Hispanic media outlets, three Brazilians, and one Haitian.