In broad state government terms, this year so far has been largely about corruption allegations, and their fallout. Such outbursts are often cyclical, play themselves out, and fade away for a while.

But there's a larger, more fundamental alteration going on, and it speaks more deeply to the body politic's distrust of the system than the public's well-earned suspicion of the body's own rot.

For decades, Peter Robinson was the man in the background, a key player in the world of hard-line unionism but almost entirely obscured by Ian Paisley's epic shadow.

In 1979, at the tender age of 29, Robinson was elected to the British parliament, beginning a political run that has seen him spend the past 30 years, or half of his life, representing East Belfast at Westminster. A year later, in 1980, Robinson was named deputy leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, launching his long-running role as Paisley's loyal understudy.

The recounting of his tenure as a United States senator in the media's compelling coverage of the death of Ted Kennedy and the current successor campaign is more than the story of one man's growth and influence in that body; it is also the latest illustration of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts's unique contribution to the political history of the nation.