As you probably know, there's an awful lot of enthusiasm, pro and con, over a video snippet in which Elizabeth Warren explains why financially successful people pay taxes. What's so striking to me about the reaction is how disproportionate it seems to what Warren said, which seems like a rather straightforward and uncontroversial claim.

Suzanne Lee didn't just make it to the November final, she finished first in yesterday's District 2 preliminary, 150 votes ahead of incumbent Bill Linehan. This defied my erroneous Ask Me Anything Day prediction of a Linehan-Ferrara finish, but maybe it was all because I swayed the voters with last week's blog post about her.

You may have heard that Bristol Palin got into a little barroom skirmish the other day, in which she lashed out (including a homophobic comment) at an obnoxious heckler. Different outlets handled the story differently, but I only noticed one -- conservative megasite Townhall.com -- that was too prudish to spell out the word "whore."

"Elias Nugator" asks:

Does Charlie Baker really want another crack at the corner office in 2014? Or is some other republican out in the weeds thinking about the Governor's race?

"Chris Matthews" asks:

If Brown loses do you see him running for governor in 2014?

And via Twitter, "Fox Van Allen" asks:

Take on the GOP next -- Mary Z.

"Jim C" asks:

what did you have to say (on BNN) last night about the city election in Boston this year?

"Kevin B. Gilnack" asks:

Do who you expect to make it through the D2 and D3 -- and heck, D7 -- preliminary elections next Tuesday?

I was indeed on BNN last night, yapping for a full half hour with the great Seth McCoy about the upcoming city elections, particularly the three district preliminaries.

"John O'Neill" asks:

Who do you think will be the Democratic Nominee for Governor in 2014?

Lil' Timmy Murray. I think he might be beaten for the nomination, but I don't yet see the person who could do it.

And yes, I realize that if I keep calling him that, one of these days I'm going to drive into Worcester and never return. Can't help myself.

"Anonymous" asks via stealthy, identity-masking email:

What's your take on the at-large race? Clearly, Connolly has the money and Arroyo appears to be strong in that department as well. Flaherty is finally in full campaign mode...who tops the ticket? Who's the one left out? And do you think topping the ticket is really that important for Connolly or any of the other mayoral hopefuls?

"Johnnie Mox" asks:

Even though the Senate President announeced she was keepng her firm grip on the Senate Presidency for a few years, things always change. The body has had great turnover in the last 6 years. Who do you see emerging as candidates as the next Senate President?

It's a tough one, huh? I wrote earlier this year that Therese Murray's leadership/committee assignments seemed to send a signal that she's in charge, and she's staying for a while (ditto with DeLeo on the house side), but you're right, things always change.

"Michael Graham," who may or may not be a slightly goofy-looking conservative radio talk-show host in Boston (congrats on the drive-time slot, BTW), sends the following Ask Me Anything Day question via email -- perhaps for fear of being caught on the Boston Phoenix web site:

With the Energy Oversight Committee's hearings on Solyndra happening literally as I type, is anyone in the MA media going to ask committee member Ed Markey about his vote against even issuing a subpoena? Or about his public claims that the DOE/WH were "cooperating fully" back in July, before we saw the emails warning of Solyndra disaster?

"David" asks:

There's now a debate scheduled on 10/4 for the Democratic Senate candidates. As with most primaries, it seems like the candidates agree on most of the issues. What do you expect will be the major topics? Are there any statewide issues that we should be looking for them to talk about?

I agree, there are unlikely to be many significant disagreements on the issues -- this early, it's more of a forum for candidates to express their "story" and demonstrate their ability to express liberal ideals in a way that resonates with the activist base.

Who's having a great Ask Me Anything Friday? "North Shore Junkie" asks:

What will the final result of Congressional redistricting be, and where do Republicans have a better than 50-50 shot of taking a seat or two in the 2012 elections?

The answer to your first question is still Steve Lynch and Bill Keating thrown together, according to what I'm hearing, but who knows what info is good and what isn't at this point -- we'll supposedly get our first official glimpse of map proposals within a couple of weeks.

The answer to your second question is: New Hampshire.

"Jesse Wood" asks:

What do you think this weeks New Hampshire polls mean for Jon Huntsman?

Nothing, and everything. Nothing for winning the nomination, which he has no chance of doing, and everything for his odds of preserving his campaign through the New Hampshire primary.

The poll, conducted by our friends at Suffolk U for WHDH, has the previously pulseless Huntsman leaping to a third-place 10% among likely Granite State GOP primary voters.

Happy Ask Me Anything Friday!!! First up is "Rob," who goes straight to the big Massachusetts 2012 US Senate race:

Have you heard any rumblings about any of the Democratic Senate candidates dropping out now that Elizabeth Warren is in the race? I'm wondering specifically about Setti Warren. Seems like this would be an opportune time for him to gracefully drop out, save face, and build up more experience for a run later on.

It's the first day of fall, and what better way to celebrate than with Ask Me Anything Friday? Plenty going on, with Boston city elections, the Great Scotto battle for US Senate, Presidential politics, the Fenway Fiasco, and all manner of policy, political, pop culture, and other issues swirling around.

Pose your questions as comments to this post, or email them to me at dbernstein[a]phx.

Capital punishment has been back in the news lately, first with the Presidential-debate-audience applause for Texas Governor Rick Perry's lengthy record of allowing executions, and then in the protests over last night's execution of Troy Davis. I will post later on the broader issues sparked by the Davis case, but first I want to use the opportunity to note Mitt Romney's intriguing history on the issue -- and to suggest a question that I would like to see posed to him at tonight's debate.