Rep. Stephen Lynch is set to announce his candidacy for Senate this afternoon at the Iron Workers’ Hall in South Boston. Before that even happens, Lynch has a website up (no content yet, but at least it has a message from Lynch and a way to express interest in volunteering), and is campaigning hard outside his district.
US Representative Stephen F. Lynch launched his campaign for US Senate by working the crowd this morning at a Springfield restaurant…. “It will be an uphill fight for me, but the fight is worth fighting. Shame on us to allow someone to clear the field, box out all the other candidates, and buy the election,” said Lynch, in an apparent reference to Markey, who has already received a number of endorsements in the race to fill the Senate seat left vacant by the departure of John F. Kerry.
“There’s a disconnect in the United States Senate. It’s a private club. I could close the gap between what’s happening on Main Street in Springfield and what’s happening in Washington,” he said at O’Brien’s Corner, an eatery that owner Brian O’Brien described as “the Irish capital of Western Massachusetts.”
He has also released a slick introductory video.
Ed Markey has his work cut out for him.
to get a phone-bank call from a Markey volunteer last night.
has the issues on his side in a Democratic primary, as reflected in his 33-point lead in the first PPP poll. He’s got enough charisma not to screw that up, and his campaign will be up in full force by the time the week’s out.
At this point I’m not worried about Lynch except if things get nasty and his base votes Brown or stays home in June. Subject to revision, of course.
The music and narration is so ominous, but it’s supposed to be a hopeful video.
He’s clearly going to hit hard on one particular note with this campaign, unfortunately, his challenger is just as strong on those issues. It’s a good general election strategy, but I don’t think it is going to fly in the primary.
the tone and the music are a tad ominous for an intro. But the content struck me as well put together.
Interesting that they choose not to have Lynch talking at all though- in fact, you don’t even get a clear shot of what he looks like till almost half way through. Also, is it kosher to us shots of the inside of the state senate chamber like that? I thought you weren’t supposed to. Looks like the got that particular image from this flicker stream. According to the license, anyone can use it, if they give attribution- which they didn’t. Of course, the owner could have waived that if they asked him/her.
It’s a very bad idea to write Lynch off, it sounds like he is going to hit Markey hard on NAFTA, the bailout, and being in Washington too long. The ‘fought Republican efforts to privatize Social Security’ was a good line too, though not sure if Markey was removed from that fight or if Lynch was really as much of a player as he argued. From his statements today it seems he will pull a ‘peoples seat’ line against Markey as well. If he runs a populist campaign on pocket book issues he can make a solid play for labor and the ‘Reilly/Clinton/Coakley’ primary voter base of ‘regulah Dems’ as opposed to activists.
Whether its large enough for him to win is another question entirely. Reilly/Clinton/Coakley had a more blue collar image than the progressive candidates they ran against but were still solidly pro-choice. Women make up the majority of MA voters (even more so within registered Dems) and are overwhelmingly pro-choice, Mitt even looked at the data in the 90s and determined he had no choice but to be pro-choice when he ran for Senate. So Markey is going to get nasty at Lynch over abortion. Its going to be an ugly race and we should prepare ourselves for that.
His position on abortion will certainly be a big hurdle in the primary, but if he muddies the water + motivates his base with otherwise low turnout he could pull it off. Moreover, he’s running with everything to gain and nothing to lose- which was the same circumstance of the last person to pull of an upset in a Senate special election.
Let’s not give the candidates permission to be nasty.
Should Lynch win, Markey will have to help close any gaps between his supporters and the nominee.
Should Markey win, and assuming Brown is there on the GOP side, there is no surrogate that can help prune the defection of ‘conserv-Dems,’ as well as Lynch.
These two really do need each other, come May 1.
The gap between him and this non-supporter will be too big to bridge. I’d stay home in June.
Except about Markey.
If Lynch wins the primary, you’ll vote for Lynch for the same reason people who understand politics hold their noses and vote for people they don’t love all the time: because this seat will affect the balance of power in the Senate. No, it won’t be the deciding vote right away. But every vote counts, especially because there are some Dems who do not vote reliably with the caucus – and Lynch will be much more reliable than they are. Plus, come 2014, the Dems again have a rough fight to keep the Senate, made rougher by the absence of a presidential election, and a Democratic incumbent in MA will help a lot.
An election between an anti-abortion Democrat and a Republican who claims he’s pro-choice.
oh wait
it’s not at all the same thing. At all. A GOP Governor in MA is, other things being equal, to be avoided if possible, but there’s no analogue to the control-of-the-Senate issue. In other words, if you disliked Silber and didn’t mind Weld, there was no reason not to vote for Weld. Here, even if you really don’t like Lynch, you should vote for him anyway if he wins the primary, because the balance of power in the Senate is really, really important.
I do not want to stretch the Silber analogy too far, obviously, but for most voters control of the Senate will not be a credible issue this time.
Democrats will control the chamber whoever wins this solitaire election. We at BMG may take the long view and worry about 2014, but most voters will not.
On the Silber front: Can Lynch possibly beat Markey without running a mean negative campaign that will anger and alienate the activist base? If the answer is no, then the Silber dynamic may take hold after all.
I agree that should the vagaries of life and politics hand the nomination to Lynch and he has run a fair positive primary campaign it will be easier to vote and even work for him.
I think a lot of people will think:
Sure, I like Lynch better than Brown, but if Lynch wins we have Lynch for life. If Brown wins, we knock him off in November 2014. I’d rather have 18 months of Brown in a Senate that’s 55-45 Dem and then a lifetime of a progressive Dem in a Senate which will certainly drift closer to 50-50 [and perhaps 60-40] over time.
Naturally, more conservative Democrats might say the same thing about Markey.
Frankly, it’s not a terrible thought process. Brown has prior art in being beaten in a November election as an incumbent Senator, after all.
… in a presidential election year with a popular (in MA) Democrat at the top of the ticket, and with a Democratic Senate candidate that shattered fundraising records and created almost unparalleled enthusiasm among the grassroots, you might have wanted to add. Who’s the awesome MA-Sen candidate waiting in the wings for 2014 if Brown (or another GOPer) wins the special? Surely not any of the sitting Congressfolk, who will likely take a pass on an uncertain election if it means having to give up their safe seat in the House – just as they did last time. Surely not Deval Patrick, who has made clear that he is headed for the private sector once his term as Governor ends. Who does that leave? Is there another Elizabeth Warren out there? Frankly, I doubt it, but I could be wrong. I just think the strategy you propose is incredibly high-risk, and frankly, not very smart.
Big issue. Markey voted yes, but Lynch voted no.
Incidentally, Delahunt was the other Mass Congressman who voted no.
No likey number one: autoplay with audio. I’m at work. Autoplay with audio is disrespectful to web users, because it can unexpectedly result in the user being disrespectful to those around him. Bad form.
No likey number two: Who is this Stephen Flynch guy?
Says me,”How long until some snarky blogger blurts ‘Flinch’?”
The answer seems to be, about 3-1/2 hours.
Will the Grammar Police mount a rapid response? ;v)
I haven’t watched the ad. Is Mr. Lynch going to be running in primary for the Democratic Party or the Connecticut for Lieberman Party?
I’m not sure if the fundamentals will be there for Lynch, but I see the potential for a huge enthusiasm gap developing in Lynch’s favor. Anointed candidates haven’t fared so well lately in Massachusetts statewide elections. Markey is showing he’s a lot more Tom Reilly and Martha Coakley than Deval Patrick and Elizabeth Warren right now. He’s had a very soft start to the campaign, blowing an opportunity to keep Lynch out of the race in the last few weeks. I think the point above about the bank bailouts is telling. He’ll have plenty of opportunities to explain what he’s all about to the electorate now.
But I’m thinking about the general. If Markey is the nominee, the usual folks I normally see every two years will pitch in to get him elected. Maybe not with the same jump in their step as for Warren, Obama, or Patrick, but they’ll do it. If it is Lynch, I’m not so sure. As David said above, there is the whole “control of the Senate” thing, but you need both fear and enthusiasm to get and keep a sufficient number of volunteers. Someone who would normally volunteer might still vote for Lynch but pass on volunteering for someone they do not quite believe in.
And for those “surprise” people who normally don’t volunteer but decide to do so because they are totally pumped up by the candidate: I don’t see them showing up in either case.
(Dang Preview button still doesn’t work…)
Saw that Lynch noted last night that he, too, had a pick-up truck. This is gonna get weird.
In re
And for those “surprise” people who normally don’t volunteer but decide to do so because they are totally pumped up by the candidate: I don’t see them showing up in either case.
… you could be be right, but I’m not so sure. There was a lot of talk about Markey on the bus to the Tar Sands demo in Portland; he might excite a good chunk of people who are perpetually dismayed at the lack of attention the subject gets (how many times did it come up in the Warren-Brown race?). I’m hoping he talks it up a-plenty: I don’t believe climate’s a turn-off for anyone but dyed-in-the-wool far right deniers, and it can serve to fuel some excitement among activists here in MA (I see one of my jobs this month as getting some of those passionate climate activists active on the electoral front).
I don’t know the Congressman personally (Lynch is my rep), but I may well have more of a jump in my step than I did doing anything on behalf of the other three you cite. While I’m not thrilled with every vote he’s cast, I know where he stands on most everything, and it’s generally not too far from where I do.
Hoping to see a good turnout at his kick-off in Malden tomorrow. At the YMCA, 99 Dartmouth St., 10 am.