Boston voters did their job: reducing twelve candidates to just two, and setting up a show down we can all focus on.
The preliminary field was too diverse to cover in-depth…with six white candidates, and six non-white, including one woman.
Inevitably, we heard the theme of "two Bostons"–a city divided by wealth and race.
Because of race, we called this race "historic." Would Boston elect its first minority mayor? It's first female? It's first one of both?
Tonight we learned this answer, and it's "not this time."
But–if you just look at Boston–you know the time will come.
What's coming right now is an election that could bring big changes to City Hall, even without the symbolism of a minority mayor.
And it's time for change.
In the past 46 years, Boston has had only three mayors: Tom Menino, Ray Flynn, and Kevin White.
Menino was a campaign aide for one of White's opponents in the 1970's…and Flynn was a state representative before he was elected in 1983.
So all three came from the same political generation….and, now, that generation represents the past, not the future.
Tonight, Marty Walsh and John Connolly are Boston's new future, though–frankly–neither is a political newcomer.
Now, both need to tell us their visions for the city, and explain how they'll make it happen.
Whoever wins, all I hope is that we come out of this election in November as "Boston Strong," and not "Two Bostons."