More news from Boston: Government calls for hard choices, as Massachusetts, caught (like many states) in a budget crunch, is finding out. Given the state constitution's requirement for a balanced budget, what do you choose --- raise taxes or cut popular programs?

Mitt Romney shows his daring with his unique proposal, none of the above:

``All voters . . . care about great education, improving our environment, bringing more jobs to Massachusetts and balancing the budget without raising taxes . . . That being the case, I think I have a very strong proposition to take to the voters of Massachusetts,'' Romney said.

Just look at his rescue of the Olympics, which were going broke when he showed up, and went off without a hitch:

``We took things out that were waste, that were unnecessary, the folderol that wasn't essential to carrying out the mission of a great Olympics,'' Romney said. ``The same thing, I believe, can happen in government.''

Well, that, and convincing 24,000 people to work for free. To his credit, he was very convincing; his volunteer pitch gathered over 60,000 applicants. None of whom were represented by civil service unions...