Anticipating low turnout, candidates race to pull voters to Tuesday’s primary
Four candidates + low turnout = anything can happen.
That’s the reality facing the Democratic Senate contenders as the days tick away until the Dec. 8 special primary. Atty. Gen. Martha Coakley enjoys a comfortable lead in the polls, but the election will be decided by who actually votes next Tuesday.
Tony Mack, a volunteer for dark-horse candidate Alan Khazei, told a WBUR-FM reporter that is encouraged by the fact that so many voters are still undecided.
“We’re identifying supporters and we’re doing persuasion,” Mack says. “There are so many people who are undecided right now. I’ve never seen an election where you get this close to the election and most people seem to be undecided. I really felt like with a really good grass roots campaign, because so many people are undecided, he can definitely win.”
Reuters, too, sees a volatile race. In a story on “Ted” Kennedy’s influence on the race, it says many people will find it hard to vote to replace such an iconic figure as the late senator.
“Voters are distracted by a lot of things in December. The holidays; the weather. There are a lot of reasons not to vote. At least a week ago, a lot of people were undecided, and some of those people will take a pass,” said Kay Schlozman, professor of political science at Boston College…
“If anyone expected we would pull another Ted Kennedy out of the hat, they were mistaken,” she said. “There’s no state, that if it had a seat vacated by a Ted Kennedy, would find another Ted Kennedy lining up in the queue.”
Meanwhile, the Boston Globe follows the four Democratic candidates around the state, watching as some of the venture out of their comfort zones to meet and greet and motivate voters face to face. Martha Coakley, for example, launched into a five-day statewide tour, “the kind of retail politicking that has so far been largely absent from her US Senate primary campaign.”
Coakley’s campaign has been very careful in planning each phase of the race. Yesterday, she shifted from debate preparations and endorsement announcements to stump speeches and baby-kissing.
“In the next five days, it’s really important that we get around the Commonwealth,” she said. “This is our chance to really get out and shake hands with folks.”
The Globe also reports that Coakley is getting last-minute get-out-the-vote help from EMILY’s List, abortion rights organizations, and — especially the 60,000-member Service Employees International Union, which also aired its own radio ads in support of Coakley’s candidacy.
For the WBUR report, see http://www.wbur.org/2009/12/04/senate-political-alliances. For Reuters, see . The Globe article is at http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/12/04/four_democrats_reaching_out_to_voters_as_primary_looms/?page=full.
