Well look who's coming to Gabriel Gomez's (R. MA) rescue:
http://www.politico.com/...
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is going to bat for Gabriel Gomez, the GOP’s candidate to replace Sen. John Kerry in the Massachusetts special election.
McConnell sent out a National Republican Senatorial Committee fundraising plea on Gomez’s behalf Friday morning, saying he would match three times any donations up to $32,000.
“A Republican majority in the Senate begins with your support today,” he wrote in the email. “Securing a victory for Gabriel Gomez in the Massachusetts Senate special election on June 25th is crucial to taking back the Senate and removing Harry Reid from power.”
The solicitation from a top Washington Republican — and symbol, at least among the left, of congressional dysfunction — is somewhat surprising given Gomez’s mandate to win in a predominantly Democratic state. - Politico, 5/31/13
At this point, Gomez needs all the help he can get to beat Congressman Ed Markey (D. MA) in the special election to fill Secretary of State John Kerry's (D. MA) Senate seat. Gomez recently made a huge ass of himself:
http://www.boston.com/...
Republican US Senate candidate Gabriel E. Gomez on Thursday again demurred when asked whether he would have supported last year’s Senate bill limiting contraceptive coverage, saying he had already been clear about his position.
“I’m not sure how much more clear I can be,” Gomez told reporters at a press conference while visiting a small business in Wellesley.
Gomez went on to state his position on related issues of abortion and contraception but he again declined to say how he would have voted on the Blunt Amendment.
“I don’t believe that we should have taxpayer dollars funding abortion,” Gomez said. “I also believe completely, 100 percent, that contraception should be available over the counter. Like I said, Governor [Bobby] Jindal wrote a great op-ed that I completely agree with – contraception should be available over the counter. They should take the politics out of it. And they should take the pharmaceutical companies out of it.”
Gomez was referring to the opinion article that Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal wrote in the Wall Street Journal late last year arguing that birth control be sold without prescriptions to depoliticize the issue of its insurance coverage. Jindal said Republicans had been unfairly characterized by Democrats as opposing birth control.
The Blunt Amendment caused a stir in last year’s Massachusetts’ Senate race and exacerbated claims that Republican politicians were against women’s rights.
The measure would have let an employer opt out of paying for workers’ birth control coverage if he deemed it morally objectionable. Sponsors, including former US Senator Scott Brown of Massachusetts, said it would protect people from being forced by the government to violate their religious beliefs. But opponents said it would conflict with the healthcare bill’s intent, to make sure everyone has health care coverage, and that it could allow employers to arbitrarily deny any kind of coverage based on moral objections.
Marty Walz, chief executive officer of the Planned Parenthood Advocacy Fund of Massachusetts, called Gomez’s statement a distraction.
“It doesn’t have anything to do with the Blunt Amendment,” she said. “Gabriel Gomez is trying to change the subject to avoid answering a question about women’s access to health care through their health insurance.” - Boston Globe, 5/30/13
By the way, check out this awesome ad the Markey campaign released in response to Gomez's fumble:
Gomez has also been battling Markey for Latino support in Massachusetts:
http://www.masslive.com/...
Jose Claudio, a Democratic city council candidate in Springfield, said Markey’s values are in line with the Latino community’s. “Obamacare, jobs, we want to see the economy moving in the right direction,” Claudio said. “He’s the guy who can work with the middle class and the poor.”
Markey hired Amaad Rivera, a former Springfield city councilor, to coordinate his Latino outreach. Rivera said the campaign holds roundtables, phone banks and events targeting Latino voters, in cities including Springfield, Holyoke, Boston, Lawrence and Worcester. Some events are in English and others are in Spanish. The campaign holds weekly organizing and strategy meetings, talking to local leaders about issues that matter to Latino voters. It produces Spanish literature and reaches out to Spanish media.
The Markey campaign, together with state Democrats and other organizations, will hold a summit this Saturday in Boston with Latino leaders from around the state. Markey also enjoys support from several unions, including chapters of the SEIU, which represent a large number of Latino workers and have been a major force in turning out voters. In addition, the Massachusetts Democratic Party has hired two new staff members to focus on the Latino community, and is developing a pro-Markey ethnic media campaign.
Rivera said the campaign is hearing from Latinos about immigration reform, education, jobs, the economy and inclusion. “I think this race is about values…not about identity politics,” Rivera said. “Ed Markey’s invested in a comprehensive, engaged Latino program since he began running for Senate.”
“He has done a really good job at tapping into a lot of the Latino leaders,” added Denise Hurst, a school committee member in Springfield who represents a large Latino population.
Hurst supports Markey because of his support for abortion rights and education funding. While she knows Gomez’s roots may create an affinity with some Latinos, she said Markey has engaged Latino voters on a grassroots level, similar to Obama and Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren. “I think the Latino community won’t necessarily align themselves with someone because of their name but because of all the information they’re given,” Hurst said.
Gomez, however, has been working to make inroads in the Latino community, campaigning in urban, Spanish-speaking neighborhoods in Boston, Lawrence and Holyoke. Gomez does media interviews and delivers his stump speech in Spanish. In his speech launching his campaign, he opened with a sentence in Spanish.
The fact is, we’re actually going into a lot of these communities where Republicans have not historically gone into and been able to communicate and connect with those communities,” Gomez said. “While they may be suspicious of the Republican Party in the past, they know I’m a new kind of Republican and they know this election is about the future, not the past.”
Gomez has held meet and greets with Latino voters in central Massachusetts and seniors in Southbridge. He has done events with the Puerto Rican Veterans Association and attended a summit of ALPFA, a group dedicated to helping Latino business professionals. The Spanish language media has covered Gomez extensively. - The Republican, 5/31/13
Latinos make up nearly 10 percent of the Massachusetts population, according to census data, and 6 percent of Massachusetts' eligible voters, according to the Pew Research Hispanic Center. The special election takes place on Tuesday, June 25th. Lets help Markey win this race! Please do contribute to his campaign before midnight tonight:
http://www.edmarkey.com/