The air wars are intensifying among the Democratic field in the Massachusetts Senate special election.
State Attorney General Martha Coakley, the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination, announced the launch of her first television advertisement of the campaign Tuesday. The 30-second ad goes after the women's vote, featuring a middle-aged woman who was denied health care claims, including coverage for her mammogram. Coakley, she says, helped her get her money back and go after the insurance company. Coakley appears in the ad to voice support for a "strong public option," referring to a government-run insurance plan being pushed by Democratic constituencies.
The ad buy is statewide and is "robust," in the words of Coakley spokeswoman Alex Zaroulis.
While Coakley goes up with her first, her Democratic rival, Rep. Michael E. Capuano, is launching his third. Capuano's statewide 30-second spot focuses on improving Massachusetts' business climate. New jobs, he says, come from the state's health care, research and biotech industries, "which depend on federal funding." Capuano, hitting a recurring theme in his campaign, says he is best equipped to deliver that funding as the only member of Congress in the field.
Capuano and fellow Democrat Stephen Pagliuca have been blanketing the airwaves for weeks with ads introducing themselves to Massachusetts voters. Coakley, the only statewide officeholder in the race, has been able to hold off thanks to higher name ID before entering the race. That also has enabled her to conserve cash going into the final month before the Dec. 8 primary election. Coakley started October with a cash-on-hand advantage over her Democratic rivals, reporting nearly $2 million in the bank compared with $1.2 million for Capuano, $1 million for Alan Khazei, co-founder of the national community service program City Year, and $674,000 for Pagliuca.
The Democratic primary winner is likely to go on to succeed Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, who died of cancer in August, triggering the special election.
State Sen. Scott Brown has a firm grasp on the Republican nomination, but faces long odds against the eventual Democratic nominee in the Jan. 19 election.
CQ Politics rates the general election contest Safe Democratic.
To see how the 2010 Senate races are shaping up, check out the CQ Politics' election map.
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Comments
I'm hoping that people start focusing on this race now that the '09 elections are over. Everybody assumes that since Kennedy's seat will be filled by a Dem, it doesn't matter which Dem . . . but the current Congress is a perfect example of how different two "Democrats" can be! Given that MA elects people for life, we're talking about a very short period to to decide someone who could hold the seat for 30 or 40 years. Dem primary is on Dec. 8th, and whomever wins will wield considerable power long-term.
It's also been pretty interesting to watch the Boston Globe, normally a paper of note, overwhelmingly tilt coverage toward the front-runner. No one's paying attention on the national scale, so there's no pushback (a big mistake on the part of the other campaigns, though I assume they're trying.) Bogus polls have been reported as news even on this site (read: almost half the respondents counted were not likely to vote !?!) and again, no one's taking a hard look. I'd like to know who these candidates are, and what their records are.
Posted by: PollySci
| November 4, 2009 10:13 AM
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