Q&A #5: A Few Questions About the City Council

Let’s take a few quick questions about the Boston City Council races. First, “jeffreyjames” asks:

District 8 City Council. I am sick of seeing that damn bridge smeared all over everything and feel like Nichols has some relevant experience. What are your thoughts?

Yeah, I hear ya. I’m half-expecting Josh Zakim to dress as his eponymous bridge for Halloween. It’s a little much for my taste. But you know, people do what makes sense to get elected, and he’s probably going to wipe out Mike Nichols and be the new District 8 councilor, so we’ll get plenty of opportunity to find out whether he’s got more to him than the name.

Next, from “Andrew Carden”:

Any chance the Top 4 for at-large won’t be Pressley, Murphy, Flaherty and Wu (and probably in that order)?

Nope. Order might be different, though. And remember, who gets fifth could matter—that person would inherit a seat if one of those four steps down, which is not all that unlikely.

And via email from “Keith”:

How come Jeff Ross now calls himself Jeffrey Michael Ross on the ballot?

To get cheap votes from people confusing him with Mike Ross. See “people do what makes sense to get elected,” above.

Read more of today’s Ask Bernstein Anything >>