(Full disclosure: the author is an officer on the executive committee of the Greater Blackstone Valley Democrats - this post contains the author's personal opinions and in no way implies an endorsement of any candidate by the Greater Blackstone Valley Democrats.)
A week ago, we had some dismal polling news in the upcoming special election to replace John Kerry in the Senate, with Congressman Ed Markey trailing not only Scott Brown, but trailing the dreaded "generic Democrat" as well. But this week, PPP entered the field, and they find the race to be a statistical dead heat, with Brown at 48 and Markey at 45!
Join me over the orange squiggle of doom for special election linky goodness...
Steven Lynch, Democratic Congressman from MA-08, is widely expected to join the race tomorrow. He will be driving across the commonwealth, beginning early in the morning in Springfield and culminating with a press conference in Boston around sundown - something tells me he won't be announcing that he's staying out of the race. For those who aren't familiar with Lynch, he has some union backing, but he's not nearly progressive enough - he's anti-choice, and he voted against the ACA in what I thought was a pander to Scott Brown's supporters in 2009. More good news for Markey - PPP says Lynch is losing in a hypothetical primary by 52-19.
Markey will be holding a campaign kickoff in Malden on Saturday, 2/2 at 10 AM - YMCA, 99 Dartmouth St, Malden, MA. He's a career-long champion of the environment with great progressive cred - I'm ready to start knocking on doors and gathering signatures for him. I saw him up close and personal in December, when my daughter and I attended a climate change hearing he hosted in Faneuil Hall - I posted some video from that event here:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
If you'd like to get involved with the campaign, especially if you're in southern Worcester County, contact me here in the comments or use Kosmail. To get email updates or make a donation to the campaign, visit http://www.edmarkey.org.