Where is Kerry Healey?

That's the question that Eileen McNamara asked in her column yesterday. McNamara wondered why the Lieutenant Governor has not spoken up now that the public has turned its attention to crime, her supposed area of expertise. Instead of using Romney's continued absence and detachment from the state as an excuse to speak out, she's tooling around the state, holding low-profile roundtable discussions that maybe a dozen people outside of the Massachusetts Executive branch will ever hear about.

Healey should be the political beneficiary of Romney's detachment. He delegated criminal justice to her. If she is not the dominant voice on these issues now, when will the public get to hear her?

Maybe soon, now that Mitt Romney has finally announced his intentions. But maybe Healey just isn't comfortable using her position to speak out. After all, the last time she was given a microphone in front of a large audience, she was called "a new contender for Most Revolting Politician in America" by Slate's William Saletan. Even yesterday, Healey shied away from the spotlight.

"Today is a day really about Gov. Romney and I would like to keep the focus on him," she said. "My intentions haven't changed."

Healey said she expected to make a formal announcement about her candidacy sometime during the winter, which ends March 20.

As an aside, what is the Romney/Healey administration's obsession with the exact starting and ending dates of the seasons? Romney said he'd make his decision in the Fall, which he reminded us doesn't end until December 20th -- even though a quick look out the window confirms that it's Winter, despite what the calendar may say.

Oh, and to the person who found my site yesterday by searching for the terms 'Kerry healy will get trounced', we can all hope you're right. In the meantime, perhaps this will be a better resource for you.