Considering the rough-and-tumble of Massachusetts politics, the campaign to see who will succeed the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy has been an uncharacteristically quiet affair, generating more yawns than heat.
The Democratic and Republican Primaries will be held December 8, with a special election set for January 19. Former Kennedy aide and long-time Democratic Party leader Paul Kirk was appointed by Gov. Deval Patrick to fill the seat until the special election.
The field of four Democrats and two Republicans are generally capable, affable, and cautious. In fact, the most interesting person in this campaign isn’t a candidate at all, but an anonymous
blogger who is clearly well-informed, appears to have an insider’s knowledge of the campaigns, and whose posts – which are signed The Senator - are followed by candidates and media alike.
On the Democratic side, the front-runner is state Attorney General Martha Coakley, according to a
poll published today in the Boston Globe. Coakley, 56, a former district attorney, was the first to announce her intention to run for the Senate seat. Her campaign is well-financed and she is the only candidate with statewide name recognition. She has done her best to avoid controversy, though there have been a few missteps along the way.
First, in her initial financial report, she claimed only $1,000 in personal assets, despite her six-figure AG salary.
Coakley called it an error, and promised a correction.
Then Coakley, according to the
Boston Globe, at a candidates forum, said she would not have voted for the health care reform bill that the House recently passed because of an abortion amendment that had been attached to it. One of her rivals, U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano, D-Mass., immediately criticized her stance, saying the bill as too important to block based on a single amendment that could be changed later. Following a reaction from some women’s groups, Capuano changed his position and said he agreed with Coakley. Still later, Coakley softened her stance, saying in an interview with NECN’s reporter Alison King she wasn’t sure how she would vote if hers was the deciding vote and the amendment was still attached.
The flip-flopping doesn’t stop there. Another Democratic candidate, social entrepreneur Michael Khazei, criticized Coakley for accepting campaign contributions from lobbyists and Poltitical Action Committees.
Khazei asserted that not only hasn’t he accepted any money from lobbyists or PACs, he wouldn’t even meet with lobbyists once he was in office, as reported in the Boston Herald. When he realized he was speaking at a forum sponsored by a group of environmental organizations, he quickly retracted, saying he would meet with representative from groups like the Sierra Club, “because he wanted to hear all sides.” It begs the question of whether he would meet with energy industry lobbyists, for example, to hear their side.
Millionaire Steve Pagliuca touts his business success as his major qualification for office, though he’s better known as owner of the Boston Celtics basketball team. In a radio interview he raised eyebrows when he said he supported a military draft. He quickly retracted that statement saying he “misunderstood the question.”
On the Republican side, whichever of the two candidates wins the nomination faces a dauntingly uphill battle in this overwhelmingly Democratic state. The front-runner here appears to be state Sen. Scott Brown. He, too takes generally safe positions, saying he supports health-care coverage for all Americans, but not through a government program, and while he personally believes that marriage should be between a man and a woman, he also supports a state’s right to legislate gay marriage if that’s what voters wish.
The gadfly in the group is Jack E. Robinson, attorney and businessman, who has been largely ignored by the media. He ran for the Senate once before, in 2000. Most observers here remember that Robinson was conducting a radio interview on his cellphone while driving and got into a fender-bender on the air. He also neglected to take up residence in the state until it was pointed out to him by a reporter. As a campaigner, he tends to make outrageous claims. To commuters in downtown Boston, he says he supports free public transportation. To pro-life groups, he’s anti-abortion. To more liberal groups, he says he supports gay marriage. He says he supports lifting the capital gains tax, claiming that will generate "trillions" in new revenue, and so it goes.
