Martha Coakley and Scott Brown fight to the finish
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/po...format=&page=2&listingType=MA2004#articleFull
By Jessica Fargen and Edward Mason
Sunday, January 17, 2010 -
Updated 7h ago
The U.S. Senate election enters its final “do or die” days as President Obama heads to the Hub today to try to save his domestic agenda with a last-ditch pitch for Democrat Martha Coakley, while insurgent Republican Scott Brown criss-crosses the state on a wave of anti-Washington momentum.
“Initially, I thought it was me against the machine, but now it’s us against the machine,” Brown told a cheering crowd at a Plymouth campaign rally yesterday. Brown has vowed to help defeat the president’s flagship health-care legislation.
The neck-and-neck race for what was once thought to be the safest Democratic seat in the country - held by the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy for 47 years - has stunned the party.
“
This race is do or die in our state,” U.S. Sen.
John Kerry told voters in an e-mail. “We have to stand with Martha as she tries to win this seat.”
The candidates held no punches in a day of fast-paced campaigning before high-spirited crowds.
Coakley, under fire for a light schedule and sinking poll numbers in recent weeks, launched a “Fighting for You” tour that made nine stops in eastern Massachusetts. She was joined by Victoria Reggie Kennedy, whose late husband’s seat is to be filled in the Tuesday special election.
“It’s astounding that Scott Brown says he sides with the little guy,” Coakley told a crowd of 300 union workers inside the packed Dorchester IBEW hall. “We don’t need to send someone to Washington who sides with the people who got us into this (economic) mess.”
The attorney general, not known as a passionate speaker, grew increasingly fiery throughout the day.
In Melrose, she brought a crowd of more than 200 to its feet when she mocked her rival.
“Just because you can drive around the commonwealth in a truck doesn’t mean you’re going in the right direction,” Coakley said.
In Lynn, she dared Brown to make an issue out of Obama’s visit.
“I think that the president thinks we’re going to win, and that’s why he’s coming here,” Coakley said.
The president is to stump for Coakley at 3 p.m. today at Northeastern University. Brown has a slate of six stops planned for today, including one in Worcester with former Republican Gov. Paul Cellucci.
The Wrentham state senator - a little-known lawmaker at the race’s start - reveled in crowds of hundreds who gave him the celebrity treatment from Quincy to the Cape. Supporters lingered to shake his hand, snapped cell phone photos and asked him for autographs.
They yelled “Go Scott Go!” as he walked down a Quincy sidewalk shaking hands before a rally with former Gov. William Weld.
In eight stops around the state, Brown sought to paint Coakley as a pro-tax “machine” politician.
“This race is about differences. In the midst of this recession we do not need another Martha Coakley tax of $45 billion,” he said, referring to his rival’s support of added fees on banks.
Brown also blasted Coakley for campaign negativity.
“This race has gone from cordial to being one of the most malicious, destructive, wrong campaigns we’ve ever seen in the history of Massachusetts,” he said while on a Quincy stage in front of an American flag. “Shame on Martha"
“Shame on Martha!” the crowd chanted.
Both campaigns threw last-minute jabs: Brown charged that a Massachusetts Democratic Party mailing violates a state law prohibiting
false statements against a political candidate. The cover of the mailer says:
“1,736 women were raped in Massachusetts in 2008. Scott Brown wants hospitals to turn them all away.”
In 2005 Brown filed an amendment that would have allowed workers at religious hospitals or with firmly held religious beliefs to avoid giving emergency contraception to rape victims. The amendment failed, and Brown voted in favor of a bill allowing the contraception. The party did not immediately comment.
Coakley blasted Brown for not paying for health insurance for his workers. (See related story on page 4.)
Enjoying mild weather, both candidates were bolstered by huge crowds.
More than 100 sign-holding Coakley supporters waited outside Brothers Deli in Lynn, where Coakley chatted with diners. Steven Laliberte, 46, of Lynn, said he “felt really good” about her chances.
“I think we’re going to be fine,” Laliberte said.
Eileen Driscoll, 48, of Danvers, wasn’t so confident. She passed up overtime pay to hold a sign for Coakley.
“I’m nervous,” Driscoll said. “It’s that imporant to me that Martha wins. I’d hate to lose health-care reform to Scott Brown.”
Judging by an informal survey of rally attendees, Brown drew huge support from independents yesterday.
“He’s truthful,” said Brian Hamlet, 66, Plympton, an independent voter who is unemployed. “I’m just upset with the way things are.”
At Mamma Mia’s restaurant in Plymouth, unenrolled voter Eric Pulsifer, eating with his wife and young kids, said health care was a big issue. “We don’t want socialized medicine,” he said.
Richard Gallerani, 50, a truck driver and independent from Plymouth, wanted change. “
This is the emancipation of Massachusetts from the Democratic regime that there has been since Ted Kennedy,” he declared. “We need some
balance"
“This is not Ted Kennedy’s seat. It’s not the Democrats’ seat. It’s your seat,” declared Republican state Sen. Scott Brown at a rally yesterday in Quincy
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