Election to fill Ted Kennedy's U.S. Senate seat could hinge on 'undecided' votersBy Dan Ring
January 16, 2010, 5:00PM
<snip>
SPRINGFIELD – With the U.S. Senate contest on Tuesday too close to call, the outcome could hinge on undecided voters such as such as Anthony L. McNeil of Agawam. McNeil, 42, a security officer and a Democrat, said he needs to study the issues before casting a vote. He said he is most concerned about taxes and health care. With so much at stake, he said he will definitely be voting two days from now.
“It’s only one vote, but I want it to count,” McNeil said in downtown Springfield.
The three candidates for the seat of the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy are Martha M. Coakley, the state’s attorney general, Republican Scott P. Brown, a state senator from Wrentham, and independent Joseph L. Kennedy, a Libertarian candidate who is vice president of information technology at State Street Corp. in Boston. Kennedy is not related to the late senator.
In the wake of a new poll that shows them neck and neck, Coakley and Brown are flooding the airwaves with commercials and touring the state, hoping to capture the votes of the undecided and independents.
During interviews in Springfield with more than 25 voters from Western Massachusetts, people often sounded uneasy amid a poor economy and the dragged out wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Another undecided voter, Matthew J. Reardon, of Holyoke, an employee with the state Department of Revenue, said he is concerned that Coakley has no legislative experience and may lack the skills needed for compromise in Washington. He said he can’t see himself voting for a Republican, either.
Reardon, married with two small children, said he is looking at possibly voting for Kennedy, the independent.
“He wants to give government back to the people,” said Reardon, a Democrat. “I don’t think it’s been that way for years.”
Because Democrats outnumber Republicans by 3-1 in Massachusetts, Brown needs to receive the lion’s share of independent voters. Voters not affiliated with any party constitute 51 percent of the registered voters.
One independent voter interviewed on the street, Jeremy B. Powers, 34, a lawyer from Longmeadow, said he will vote for Brown.
“Martha Coakley has run a very poor campaign,” Powers said. “She’s been largely invisible. At least I know where Scott Brown stands on the issues. He’s also fiscally more conservative, which I think Washington needs right now.”
Another independent, Don P. Martin, 30, a banquet server at a Springfield hotel, said he is leaning toward Brown. Martin cited Brown’s support for the president’s plan to send an additional 30,000 troops to fight the war in Afghanistan.
“You’ve got to support the troops,” said Martin, who has cousins in various branches of the military.
Coakley, a former two-term Middlesex district attorney, also is attractive to some independents.
Kim A. Otis, 53, of Granby, said she looked at Brown and Coakley after the Dec. 8 primary and now will vote for Coakley. Otis, an independent, said she has followed Coakley’s career and believes she stands up for consumers.
“She will be able to hit the ground running,” Otis said.
Voters on Tuesday will be electing the state’s first new U.S. senator in 25 years. Kennedy died of brain cancer in August after 47 years in the Senate. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. across the state.
According to a poll by Suffolk University in Boston, the contest is a dead heat between Brown and Coakley. In a survey of 500 voters last week, Brown received 50 percent; Coakley, 46 percent and Kennedy, 3 percent. The margin of error was plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.
Many people are focusing on the economy, health care and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to interviews.
<snip>
More:
http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2010/01/election_to_fill_ted_kennedys.html:shrug:
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
