— Barney Frank is never at a loss of words, even while in hospice care with congestive heart failure. As the Globe’s Bryan Marquard reports, the former congressman is spending his last days trying to steer the Democratic Party in a more pragmatic direction, using his credentials as a liberal’s liberal to warn that the party is drifting too far left and away from the political center. There’s so much to unpack here, but two things Frank says stand out to me: 1.) how moderate Dems need to more clearly criticize and distance themselves from crazy far-left ideas like defunding the police, etc. 2.) how moderate Dems are too often cowed by progressive threats of denunciation and primary challenges. The net result: moderate muddle on issues.

— Speaking of moderate muddle, definitely check out Ross Douthat’s recent NYT piece (“Slouching Toward Kamala Harris”), which pretty much describes the lame inability of Harris and today’s Dem establishment to connect with centrist voters: “Despite being on the record taking radical positions, Harris was never a radical politician. Rather, she was a perfectly hapless embodiment of a Democratic establishment that aspired to manage its base without ever strongly resisting its demands and that aspired to win moderate voters not by moderating on the issues but through a change of affect or a change of subject.” … In other words, as Frank might put it: The party establishment isn’t explicitly distancing itself from extreme left views.

— A classic example of lame Dem establishment moves? Propping up Maine Gov. Janet Mills, 79, to run against Graham Platner, 41, the latest fresh face on old lefty ideas and passions embraced by old lefty pols like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. In a Vox interview, Maine journalist Alex Seitz-Wald explains why Mills’ lackluster campaign ultimately collapsed – and it wasn’t because of Platner’s ideas. … Seitz-Wald’s description of Platner, btw, is  fascinating: He’s kind of a real-but-not-real blue-collar guy capable of “code switching” between his upper-middle-class upbringing and his adopted working-class lifestyle. … I.e., he’s a quasi-“gentleman oyster farmer,” not a true born-and-raised “oyster farmer.”

— A recent UNH poll shows a dip in Gov. Maura Healey’s approval ratings, suggesting she might be a bit more vulnerable to a general-election challenge than thought, as the Herald reports. But let’s not suggest too much. This fall’s election is still Healey’s to lose. And the fact she probably will face off against a pro-Trump/Vance and pro-life GOP candidate, Mike Minogue, may make that likely outcome a bit more likely. WBUR’s Beth Healy and the Globe’s Joan Vennochi have the details on Minogue’s right-wing baggage in this bluest of blue states. Meanwhile, the Herald’s Joe Battenfeld is urging the GOP to rally around Minogue, saying he needs the time and room to counter the Healey/MSM narrative about his conservativism.