Attorney General Martha Coakley starts the special election race to fill the Senate seat of the late Edward M. Kennedy with a significant advantage in voter familiarity, according to a Rasmussen Reports survey conducted Sept. 8.

Coakley, who declared her candidacy Sept. 3, registered support from 38 percent of likely Democratic voters -- a big lead over likely Democratic opponents Stephen F. Lynch and Michael E. Capuano, both congressmen from the Boston area. The survey found that Lynch would start with support from 11 percent of likely Democratic primary voters and Capuano, 7 percent.

The dean of the Massachusetts congressional delegation, 17-term Rep. Ed Markey, who is still mulling a run, had the backing of 10 percent of likely Democratic voters polled.

Rep. John F. Tierney, who is also looking at the campaign, came in at 3 percent.

The race to fill retiring Sen. Judd Gregg's seat in 2010 is shaping up as a competitive one with Rep. Paul Hodes holding a slight lead if he runs against Charlie Bass and in a statistical tie if his opponent is Attorney General Kelly Ayotte, according to a Research 2000 poll conducted July 13-15.

Hodes leads Bass 42 percent to 37 percent with 19 percent undecided while Ayotte edges Hodes 39 percent to 38 percent with 21 percent undecided. the margin of error is 4 points. When the favorability ratings of the three are tested, the most important figure seems to be the number of people who have no opinion, which ranges from 45 percent for Hodes to 46 percent for bass and 51 percent for Ayotte.

When it comes to three-term Democratic Gov. John Lynch, 61 percent of voters say they would re-elect him in 2010, 24 percent who consider voting for someone else and 15 percent want to replace him.

While Democrats have enjoyed two election cycles where they made huge strides in building their congressional majorities, we've been struck by the series of polls in the last few weeks that show a far grimmer outlook for their gubernatorial colleagues as we approach 2010.

Here's a summary of the last five governor polls we've posted here in Poll Tracker:

• New Hampshire: Three-term Democratic Gov. John Lynch was re-elected by landslides in his last two races and has enjoyed high approval ratings since his first term as New Hampshire governor, but economic and budget challenges have taken some of the luster off his current standing, according to a University of New Hampshire Granite State poll conducted June 24 - July 1.

Three-term Democratic Gov. John Lynch was re-elected by landslides in his last two races and has enjoyed high approval ratings since his first term as New Hampshire governor, but economic and budget challenges have taken some of the luster off his current standing, according to a University of New Hampshire Granite State poll conducted June 24 - July 1.

Lynch still has a favorable-to-unfavorable job approval ratio that other pressed governors would envy - 63 percent to 27 percent - but that's his lowest showing since October 2005 and the first time since then he has dipped below 70 percent. Sixty-two percent have a favorable opinion of Lynch compared to 24 percent who view him unfavorably, a net drop of 21 points.