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POLITICAL HAPPY HOUR: August 13, 2014

Here’s your afternoon dose of politics, from Joshua Miller of the Boston Globe:

GUN RIGHTS GROUP SNUBBED: The Gun Owners Action League of Massachusetts, the NRA affiliate that helped craft and then threw its support behind a wide-ranging anti-gun violence bill signed into law today by Governor Deval Patrick, is crying foul after not being invited to the signing ceremony.

“So much for celebrating the historic nature of this bill,” Jim Wallace, GOAL’s executive director said in a statement. “We worked tirelessly on this bill and were instrumental in getting it passed — and he can’t invite us to the bill signing ceremony? This just proves that gun owners in this state are ... regarded as 2nd class citizens just because they choose to exercise their 2nd amendment rights.”

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Terrel Harris, a spokesman for the state’s Executive Office of Public Safety, said in a statement that GOAL was an important partner in crafting the bill. “We have spoken directly with GOAL Executive Director Jim Wallace to apologize for the oversight of not including them in today’s program,” he said.

ELIZABETH WARREN PLANS TRIP TO ISRAEL, via Matt Viser in Washington on BostonGlobe.com: “With Hillary Clinton seeming to express a more hawkish view of world affairs than President Obama and publicly questioning his decisions on Syria, liberals may be wondering what an Elizabeth Warren alternative would look like. The answer? It’s a big question mark. More than a year and a half into her Senate term, the Massachusetts senator is one of just three current US senators who has not taken an official overseas trip. ... A Warren aide said the freshman senator is planning to join a congressional trip to Israel ... [that] likely will come after the midterm elections in November. That trip could raise speculation that Warren is trying to add to her foreign policy portfolio ahead of a potential presidential run, but it also could be seen as her playing catch up to other freshman senators who have already traveled abroad. ...” http://bit.ly/1sW8Q0k

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STARK DIFFERENCES AS THE TWO GOP CONTENDERS FOR MASS. GOVERNOR FACE OFF, from me on BostonGlobe.com: “... Charlie Baker and Mark R. Fisher met this morning at a rare head-to-head forum, and while there was little sharp debate, the hour of discussion [hosted by 90.9 WBUR] revealed substantial philosophical differences between the stalwart of the GOP establishment and his Tea Party affiliated rival. Baker expressed support for state government involvement — smart, effective, targeted — in a variety of arenas, while Fisher indicated his overriding belief in the free market meant the state should have an extremely limited role. ... ” http://bit.ly/1mJZrTV

PATRICK URGES MARKET BASKET WORKERS TO RETURN TO WORK, via Jack Newsham and Michael Levenson on BostonGlobe.com: “Governor Deval Patrick on Wednesday urged protesting Market Basket employees to return to work, saying they can help the company while the terms of a sale are negotiated. The governor said he had spoken to the chairman of Market Basket’s board, Keith O. Cowan, as well as to its ousted president, Arthurt T. DeMoulas, and believes the two sides have agreed on or are close to a sale price. ...” http://bit.ly/1pssBLZ

CONN. GOV RACE ROUND TWO, via Christopher Keating, Jenny Wilson and Matthew Q. Clarida on the front page of today’s Hartford Courant: “Greenwich business executive Tom Foley roared to victory Tuesday night in a low-turnout Republican gubernatorial primary, setting up a potentially contentious rematch with Gov. Dannel P. Malloy this fall that polls show will start off as a dead heat. Foley and Malloy clashed sharply four years ago in debates and television commercials, and this year’s battle could be especially heated as Malloy tries to win his second term as Connecticut’s leader. ... ” http://bit.ly/Y5t5gK

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CHRIS CHRISTIE PLEDGES ‘MILLIONS’ FOR MAINE’S LEPAGE, via Mario Moretto on the front page of today’s Bangor Daily News in Bangor: “... Christie, chairman of the Republican Governors Association, ... and LePage toured a recently expanded airplane maintenance and repair operation ... where Christie touted LePage’s efforts to make Maine more business-friendly, and pledged ‘millions of dollars’ to see him returned to the Blaine House in 2014. LePage is in a tight race with Democratic U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud. Independent candidate Eliot Cutler is also running, but lags in the polls. ...” http://bit.ly/XhPPdq

SETH MOULTON, DEMOCRAT HOPING TO UNSEAT US REP JOHN TIERNEY, IS UP ON TV TODAY: The new spot is mostly biographical but takes an oblique knock at Tierney, a longtime congressman. “I’m Seth Moulton, and I approve this message because instead of re-electing more of the same, I’m a Democrat for real change,” Moulton says to the camera.

The 30-second ad: http://youtu.be/13O6s3UavZY

FUNDRAISING EMAIL THAT MAKES YOU GO HMM, from the campaign of Richard Tisei, the Republican aiming for Tierney’s seat: “... Today is Richard’s birthday! Richard’s been working so hard recently that there’s no time for cake and happy birthdays. ...”

Call me old fashioned, but I think there’s always time for cake and happy birthdays.

If it’s your birthday, and you’ve been working so hard that there is no time for cake, you probably won’t send me your thoughts, tips, and feedback of all kinds. For everyone else, my email is joshua.miller@globe.com. You can also tweet at me — and it takes just a second — @jm_bos.

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Joshua Miller can be reached at joshua.miller@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @jm_bos.