A second poll has joined Rasmussen in putting Martha Coakley well ahead of the rest of the field in the Massachusetts Senate race.
Suffolk University. 9/8-10. Registered voters. MoE 4.4%
Martha Coakley (D) 47
Michael Capuano (D) 9
Stephen Lynch (D) 6
Alan Khazei (D) 3
Steve Pagliuca (D) 0
Martha Coakley (D) 54
Scott Brown (R) 24
Michael Capuano (D) 36
Scott Brown (R) 28
Lynch, of course, is now decisively out of the race, while City Year co-founder Alan Khazei pulled papers for the race this week.
Meanwhile, that guy down there at zero, Boston Celtics co-owner and private equity investor, Steve Pagliuca, got into the race yesterday, and he's wasting no time:
Stephen G. Pagliuca, a wealthy political novice prepared to spend millions to win the US Senate seat of Edward M. Kennedy, will jump into the race today and launch an immediate television advertising blitz designed to raise his public profile, outline his background, and define himself as a progressive Democrat, according to sources familiar with his strategy.
Pagliuca’s team has worked over the past several days to develop the ads as he pondered whether to get into the race, those sources said. The ads will be up and running within days, they say.
Defining himself as a progressive Democrat may prove challenging, given his background: He gave money to Mitt Romney in his 1994 run against Ted Kennedy and to Bill Weld in his 1996 run against John Kerry. He became a Democrat in 1998, but gave money to George W. Bush in 1999. Almost all of his contributions since have been to Democrats, but the Globe reports that he did not vote in the 2008 presidential primary, which you may recall was close and important.
As Mike Capuano responded to Pagliuca's entry,
“The election is to determine who is best to carry on Ted Kennedy’s legacy," Capuano said in an interview. “Does anyone think that the Massachusetts Democratic voters are going to elect someone to Ted Kennedy’s seat who opposed him and supported Mitt Romney? It is just not going to happen."
“If it happens," he added, “I will be the most stunned politician in the world."