A very youthful sounding 58, he was all about forward movement, despite his accomplishments from age 20 when he started the Codman Square Health Center in Dorchester. Listen to the show or check his campaign site for some of his eye-popping résumé. Then check back to his site on Thursday or Friday, when he should have a full platform and the first of a set of position papers.

Walczak admits putting out his ideas is risky. Yet he says that the most important things a mayor can do are to have a vision, to hire people into that vision, and to make it all happen. Clearly for him to win, the mood of the city has to favor his vision of advancing Boston broadly in all major areas, including education, economic development, public safety, and housing.

Listen in as he speaks of what he has done and what he wants to do. We spent a fair amount of the show talking about education. Not only has he co-founded two Boston schools, but they differ. His Codman Academy is integrated with the health center. The students intern with the center and are immersed in a world of largely white professionals, atypical for their poor neighborhood. Hear Walczak explain how this differs from other high schools, how this experiment flourished, and how he thinks he can replicate and expand it throughout the city.

We had a far-ranging conversation beyond schools. He spoke to his vision in many aspects. He is one candidate who doesn’t have a two-stage campaign, for preliminary then general elections. As he put it, “You have to believe you’re going to win.”

Sure enough, he founded the phenomenally successful, neighborhood-changing Codman Health Center, two schools and much more. He’s said finding and plugging in the right leaders in schools and elsewhere are key to his vision.

We’ll try to get specific on what he sees as the problems and solutions for Boston.

If you want to catch the show live, do that here. Tune in at 2:30 PM Eastern, Tuesday, June 18th.

Afterward, you can catch the show at that URL, back here at Left Ahead, or on our iTunes page.

Particularly when the current craze is speed-dating-style candidate fora (45-seconds per complex topic per candidate), being the one voters remember is tough. Walsh does have some strong platform planks. He also figures the group sprint to September’s preliminary will take both issues and shoe leather. While a 16-year-tenure state Rep., he still acts in many ways like a City Councilor, forever concerned with constituent services. He reminded me of US Rep. Mike Capuano, who still calls in potholes as he did when he was Somerville’s mayor.

We got deeply into education. He’s been quoted with vague talk about continuing and accelerating Menino’s public-school improvements. Listen in as he speaks to very specific goals and methods, including longer school days, maybe with pre- and post-school programming involving outside groups. He has the ideas and figures as a strong union guy, he has a leg up on implementing his proposals.

Walsh figures education will be one of three key issues in this race, along with economic development and public safety. He explained how those vary in emphasis by neighborhood, and how other concerns were more important from place to place.

Walsh spoke to working with parents of newborns to three-year-olds as well, impressing on them how formative those years are. He went into how improving the schools and giving kids the resources (including GEDs as needed), and ensuring there are recovery programs for alcoholic and other drug abuse. Listen in as he paints his vision of an education system that offers kids what they need at ever stage.

He also has a wide view of crime prevention and public safety. While he doesn’t expect another Boston Miracle, he thinks the same constituents, including ministers, police, courts, community and of course city hall has to be part of it.

He also spoke of the two-phase race of preliminary and municipal. He does think that issues will make the difference for the November final. Yet to get to be one of the two in that race will require a Menino-style effort. The beloved outgoing mayor is literally a fixture in every neighborhood, subneighborhood and civic gathering. Walsh figures that Menino has set that standard and the final two will be those who have knocked on enough doors and shook enough hands to have people say, “I know Marty.”

~Mike

In a one-day shift, the show will be on Wednesday. If you can join us live, click here at 2:30 PM Eastern, Wednesday, June 12th.

Afterward, you can catch the show at that URL, back here at Left Ahead, or on our iTunes page.

We had a wide-ranging conversation. As he is personally and each time he joins us, he was candid and insightful. Toward the end, we even got into the current media to-do about charter v. public schools. He thinks that is a totally wrong framing of his fundamental concerns. Having come from a family of teachers, including him and his wife, having kids in Boston public schools, and having headed the City Council’s education committee for years, he’s in for more than a pound. Listen in to hear why he thinks “We’re in the wrong place in this debate.” If he becomes Mayor, “If you’re a great school, I want to support you. I want to replicate you,” regardless of public or charter. Likewise, he would want to fix problems on less-than-great schools.

He admits he would expect initial problems from teachers-union leaders, but not teachers. Yet, he explains why he thinks education is the big issue even for the many who do not have kids of school age, or kids at all. He doesn’t think that issue will win the mayoral by itself, but that it’s key for everyone.

We spoke of the two-phase election, starting with a preliminary of 10 to 15 candidates, depending on how many qualify for the ballot.Then the sprint between the two for the November final should be a whole different contest. He figures that you need money to be competitive, but that it won’t be the biggest factor.

Listen in as he speak about street crime, the inequality among neighborhoods, and how Boston has the resources to break that typical urban problem set. Here again, he trusts the voters to listen to his visionary proposals and join him in elevating the goals and the role of government in achieving them.

Connolly said near the end of the show that the 20-year Mayor Tom Menino will long be “the shadow and the legacy and the legend” and deserving of great praise. He thinks he can convince voters to go with him to a higher stage.

Gomez had upset promise as well. His background as Navy pilot, then SEAL, provided some glamour. His background in financial services at least implied he knew how to get rich, even if that has no relevance to the Senate.

Yet, he has thoroughly undermined himself in word and deed. Listen in as we discuss his campaign and make our surmises on how he came to be some self-destructive.

We agreed this was a winnable GOP run. Click below to hear why and how we think Gabariel blew it — the election, not a trumpet.

He has a full platform, but the big, gutsy plank is promising to put a high-quality school in every single neighborhood. That’s never been done and many have claimed it’s impossible.

To hear Connolly’s grand vision and finer details, join us live Tuesday, June 4th at 2:30 PM Eastern here If you can’t catch the show live, you can hear or download it at that URL, back here or on our iTunes page.

This is now a very crowded field and Connolly is attracting lots of endorsements and donations. We’ll ask how risky it is to tie his campaign to a huge complex issue. You can also do a little prep work by checking out his site and by going to the Left Ahead archives for his previous appearances here.

We dealt with the IRS focus on Tea Party-type groups seeking tax protection and on the DOJ collecting months of AP reporters and editor phone numbers. We’ll agree that independent study must occur on each, and likely that people up and down…perhaps as high as the AG of the US must go.

Listen in as we give our take on what are real scandals for once.

Unfortunately for the plug uglies, our President did not order or oversee these messes. He is, regardless of the crazy talk, no Nixon.

He still has to act within his authority, do that quickly, and make sure all the details on both of these come out quickly and fully.

We’ll start picking those to have on this show. Check here for updates and scheduled guests. We have no intention of trying to get everyone who’s pulled nomination papers lined up.

Today we touched on some of those we figure would:

1. Get the 3,000 sigs to be on the ballot
2. Raise a million bucks or so to be in contention
3. Strike a cord with voters and volunteers to be a force in the Sept. preliminary
4. Have a decent shot at being on the two to go into the Nov. final

Listen in to hear our very early calls. Those include those we (or at least Mike) figure are in weak positions.

We did drift into the First Suffolk MA Senate (squeaker win by Linda Dorcena Forry over Nick Collins). Unlike the Markey/Gomez contest, she should waltz to the seat by virtue of being the Dem in the race.

Ryan is dutifully fearful of the unknown Gomez, who has no political record. Listen in as he speaks of what Markey has to do to pull this off, starting with running like he’s five points behind.

We wound up in the last minutes discussing the just-starting Boston Mayor’s race — a highly crowded, jostling herd. In fact, we decided to discuss this for next week’s show. We’ll be back at our usual 2:30 PM on our usual Tuesday.