Stumbling toward the Massachusetts State House

President Barack Obama's good buddy MA Gov. Deval Patrick had led by two years for some time. He was first to a major office, first in overseeing universal health care, first in supporting and overseeing same-sex marriage. Now he is not running for a third four-year term, so he'll be first to vacate his office.

Like crows on carrion, candidates abound here. We'll update you on the issues and the shenanigans in that flurry. As background, you can check on our channel here or at Left Ahead's archives page for interviews with all but one of the candidates. The presumptive Republican nominee, Charlie Baker, has run and hidden from us, while all the Democratic, independent and the other GOP challengers have spoken with us. We may be simple minded, but doubt that cowardice or avoidance is a good qualification for office.

The best known Dem challengers are raking in bucks and sailing along. The second tier Dems plus the independents and the one (Evan Falchuk) who is kind of in a party with his new designation as United Independent Party sole candidate elbow for recognition.

The best fun has been on the Republican side, with pay-for-play scandal, accusations of chicanery at their state convention, threatened law suit, and core party members disgruntled at Baker's socially liberal positions. Augment all that with Baker's association with the Big Dig boondoggle and his scorched-earth background at a major health-care company. The jimmies on the sundae are Baker's loss to Patrick in his previous run for governor.

This promises to be a most entertaining double race — to the September primary and on to the November general.