For Democrats, Stars and Bars

Ask the typical mayor for a political tour of his city and you're likely to find yourself staring at a couple of statues, war memorials and grave sites. But when I invited Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino to preview what awaits the Democratic delegates coming for their national convention, he picked a bar.

Not just any bar but Doyle's, a watering hole in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood, very much alive with the ghosts of politics past, present and future.

"This is the official gathering spot of locals, a place where you can meet mayors, state representatives, guys coming from softball games," said Menino, surveying the crowd from his coveted front corner table. "This is not some architect-designed color scheme. It's real."

Forget about Cheers, the tourist trap ruined by the popular 1980s sitcom. Doyle's is quintessential Boston, the perfect blend of politics, beer, baseball, beer, religion and . . . did I mention beer?

Menino, 61, not only has his own table, but an entire room festooned with photos of hizzoner from age 7 to the present. Every famous Kennedy -- as well as several presidents and popes -- has at least one portrait on the walls. And this is the place where a trio of Boston Globe writers chose to launch their biography of John Kerry, the local boy who will accept his party's presidential nomination onstage at the FleetCenter July 26-29.

Now inappropriately named a cafe, Doyle's offers a selection of 50 single-malt scotches and 30 draft beers. The daily specials never change (New England boiled dinner on Thursdays, roast turkey every Sunday), but the best meal is brunch, served all day on weekends. Patrons can watch a Red Sox game from a stool at the long bar or hunker down in the giant wooden booths. Part of the charm of the place is that it goes light on the charm.

In my eight years living and working in Boston and on several return visits, I did my best to sample the city's political buffet firsthand. I've hoisted a draft with former mayor Raymond L. Flynn at J.J. Foley's and recovered over Doyle's pancakes the day after. I threw the winning pitch in the annual press vs. pols softball game on the Boston Common -- thanks to a generous call by the umpire, Michael Dukakis. And I was packed into the Iron Workers hall in Southie with 600 other singing Irish when Kerry teased Al Gore for "reinventing corned beef and cabbage."

For the Democratic faithful, Boston is a sacred place, complete with places of worship (think Fenway Park) and the requisite demons (curse of the Bambino). And it would be a sin not to get out of the FleetCenter and see some of the political stars in their natural habitat. Scope out Kerry's ooh-la-la Beacon Hill home on historic Louisburg Square, where legend has it Teresa Heinz Kerry thrilled neighborhood kids one Halloween with packets of ketchup that made for perfect fake blood. Please, remember to pronounce the "s" in Louisburg and stay out of the Secret Service's way.

Or maybe Kerry's colleague Ted Kennedy will be in the private upstairs dining room at Ristorante Saraceno (286 Hanover St.), one of his favorite North End eateries. Getting time with the senior senator can be tough these days. But inquire about his favorite Boston haunts and aides can't get him off the phone.

"For me, the Parker House [60 School St.] had all the memories," he said in an interview last month, recounting the childhood lunches he ate with his grandpa, Mayor John F. "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald. "It had sawdust floors, checkered tablecloths and, in those days, all black servants."