On area stop, Nuciforo talks change in DC

EASTHAMPTON - Andrea Nuciforo Jr. told city residents Wednesday that he will work to reverse the direction of an economy that is "rigged against ordinary people" if he is elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.

Congressional hopeful visits Easthampton, Holyoke today

EASTHAMPTON - Andrea Nuciforo Jr. will officially launch his campaign for Congress today with a bus tour to five cities across the newly created 1st Congressional District.

Democrats to hold caucuses in February

Democrats will hold caucuses in their communities during February to elect delegates and alternates to the Massachusetts Democratic Convention at the MassMutual Center in Springfield on June 2, where a candidate for U.S. Senate is expected to be endorsed.

Amherst native Daniel Winslow now one of state's rare Republican legislators

BOSTON - Daniel Winslow is something of an anomaly among Republican legislators. He supports gay marriage. He's pro-choice. Perhaps oddest of all: He was born and raised in Amherst. Winslow, who won a seat representing the 9th Norfolk District in the state House of Representatives in 2010, also has an unusually high profile for a freshman legislator. A former district court judge, he also served as chief legal counsel to former Gov. Mitt Romney for two years. Winslow is a favorite of the Boston media, who quote him frequently, and he boasts one of the largest Twitter and Facebook followings in the Legislature. And then there are the rumblings that he may be interested in running for higher office.

Valley residents split on Mitt Romney’s candidacy as NH primary draws near

NORTHAMPTON - Mitt Romney, former governor and now presidential candidate, gets some love from Valley residents - in a kind of muted way. In an unscientific sampling of voter sentiment last week, a Gazette photographer-writer team asked people in Northampton, Easthampton and Hadley what they think of Romney's bid to capture the GOP presidential nomination and challenge President Barack Obama in November. Romney is the front-runner in New Hampshire's much-anticipated, first-in-the-nation primary on Tuesday. The Massachusetts primary is March 6. A few of those interviewed said they intend to vote for Romney, who was Massachusetts governor from 2003 to 2007, for president.

• Related story: NH voters take time deciding

One political consultant's view of GOP presidential race

Ben Clarke of Greenfield is a past chief political speech writer for former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., and communications consultant for former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani's 2008 presidential campaign. He is now senior vice president of the Luntz Global public relations firm based in Alexandria, Va.

Many Valley Republican activists still shopping for a presidential star

When Mitt Romney was elected Massachusetts governor in 2002, local Republicans turned out in droves to campaign enthusiastically for him, collecting signatures, making phone calls and waving signs on street corners. But this year, with Romney battling to win the GOP presidential nomination, western Massachusetts Republicans are staying off the campaign trail in large numbers, their ardor for Romney considerably dimmed. Some aren't even sure their former governor has their vote. Chris Casale, a former longtime chairman of the Northampton Republican City Committee, backed Romney in his failed 1994 Senate bid and again in 2002 for governor. But this year he is undecided, as are many of the other Republicans he knows.