Anyone who thinks Massachusetts politics has gone soft should take note of the race to become Democratic nominee for secretary of the Commonwealth. It promises to have it all. Drama. Nastiness. Candidates who seem to inhabit different planets. In one corner: incumbent Bill Galvin, an Irish Catholic economic populist who's known as an insider’s insider. (As a state rep from Brighton, Galvin's subterranean machinations earned him the nickname "The Prince of Darkness.") In the other: John Bonifaz, a Harvard Law School graduate, former MacArthur Fellow, and left-leaning activist who founded both the National Voting Rights Institute (dedicated to campaign-finance reform) and AfterDowningStreet.org (dedicated to impeaching President George W. Bush.)

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