Spin City

Is Mitt Romney dodging the Patrick celebration or allowing the governor-elect his time in the sun?

Is Deval Patrick kissing up to legislators or freezing them out -- literally?

Comparing approaches by the two Boston papers is always a fun exercise in media criticism.

So is the Legislature "gratuitously hostile" to Patrick because he's trying to establish some distance from lawmakers in the face of campaign charges that he would be in Sal and Trav's hip pocket.

Or do the same words apply to Patrick, making legislators "buy long underwear" to attend the outdoor inaugural in an effort to open the historic moment to more people.

For that matter, is Romney trying to "accommodate" Patrick by agreeing to move to the night before the historic customs surrounding the transfer of power -- including the passage of a pewter key and a set of the 1860 Massachusetts General Laws?

Or is he concerned about the reception he will get from a large, Patrick-friendly crowd if he takes the traditional "lone walk" through the center doors and down the Statehouse steps at the traditional time?

You can safely guess Romney's video crews will be doing their campaign commercial footage at night -- and Patrick's will be out in full force during the daylight.

All in all a good metaphor for the likely differences in the two administrations -- future Herald hack-a-rama stories notwithstanding.