Hilary Chabot reports in the Boston Herald:

The "cold-blooded" murder of a Hyde Park deliveryman for his pocket cash and a pepperoni pizza has reignited the push to reinstate the death penalty - in the middle of a hotly contested gubernatorial campaign just as the race kicks into high gear.

Two of the candidates in the three-way governor's race have said they would sign a death penalty bill.  Unfortunately, the third one (the incumbent) is leading.  Even so, the enthusiasm gap, the facts that off-year elections tend to have low turnout and low turnout tends to favor the more conservative candidate, and the fact that people who tell pollsters they favor the third party candidate tend to move to the major-party challenger at the moment of truth all raise the possibility of an upset.

Also at the Herald, Joe Dwinell reports on an internet poll:

Bostonherald.com readers voted "it's time" to bring back lethal injections - and electric chair - by a resounding 70 percent.

Another 15 percent opted for the death penalty only for the "very worst murders." Life without parole collected 13 percent of the vote.

The participants in internet polls are self-selected, among the worst ways to select, so take this with a heaping tablespoon of salt.