Pop Quiz

Which of the following stories will get more press coverage and spark more public outrage here in Massachusetts?

A. Healey skirts jam, sparks road rage

Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey's use of blue police lights may have helped her get through traffic last week - but it landed her in a political jam.

Stuck in stop-and-go traffic on Route 128 in Burlington last week, Healey's state police driver used blue lights to force drivers to pull aside so she could pass on her way to a speech in Newton.

B. Kennedy's `Swift' flight home costs taxpayers $2,490

WASHINGTON - Sen. Edward M. Kennedy - stirring memories of ex-Gov. Jane M. Swift's state police chopper boondoggle - ordered up a taxpayer-funded $2,490 helicopter ride home to Hyannisport last May after attending events in New Bedford, records show.

[snip]

The senator's chopper ride home on May 21 to his family's famed compound allowed him to avoid the late Friday afternoon traffic congestion that clogs roadways and bridges to Cape Cod during the spring and summer weekends.

"Driving - or for that matter commercial air travel - at that time of day would have taken several lives hours," said Stephanie Cutter, a senior Kennedy adviser.

Hint: Lt. Governor Healey is a Republican, and Ted Kennedy is, well, Ted Kennedy. Also, notice how the Healey story broke the day after it happened, while it took nine months for the story of Kennedy's helicopter ride to make the local news.