Paul D. Ryan's election as the 54th Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives provides Republicans an important opportunity to prove that they are the party of ideas, political sobriety, and prudent statecraft. In the coming weeks, Mr. Ryan's task will become clear: he must promote a genteel, inclusive conservatism; the big tent, if you will, under which political conservatives (broadly defined) have labored since the end of the Second World War.
Ryan is a man with deep conservative principles who is, yet, grounded in the practical day-to-day realities of governing. This is precisely what the GOP needs as it attempts to undue the damage of the last decade of liberal excess and prepares for the next election cycle.
WEYMOUTH — With Republican state Sen. Robert L. Hedlund's mayoral victory in the books, aide Patrick O'Connor confirmed he will run for his boss's Plymouth and Norfolk District seat.
"I am running," O'Connor said by phone, moments after the Massachusetts Republican Party announced via the organization's Twitter account that Hedlund had won.
