Flaherty Campaign Theme?

Published Jun 26 2007, 06:47 PM by Carly Carioli

Perhaps you noticed in the Boston Globe's coverage of the Liquarry Jefferson shooting that city councilor Michael Flaherty referred to "two Bostons." As in John Edwards's two Americas, divided by socioeconomics.

The same phrase appears in a press release sent out by Flaherty today about the need to pass his gun-control bill.

That sure sounds like a campaign theme to me. But is it for his current campaign for re-election to his at-large seat? Or for longer-term use in his widely rumored 2009 stab at becoming Mayor?

Flaherty aide Andrew Kinneally won't say, naturally, but he confirms to me that "two Bostons" is a new theme that Flaherty plans to use in a variety of contexts to highlight the growing socioeconomic divide in the city. he says the first use came in a recent speech on financial literacy.

It's worth noting that Flaherty's former director of constituent services is running against Chuck Turner for the district 2 council seat in Roxbury, where presumably a "two Bostons" theme would resonate.