Although boston.com reported earlier today Turncoat Stephen Lynch (D?-MA) ("turncoat" because he voted against the Affordable Care Act) was going to run for John Kerry's Senate seat, it didn't take long for the same source to backtrack on its reporting:
US Representative Stephen F. Lynch said this afternoon that he hasn’t yet made up his mind about running for the US Senate in the special election to fill John F. Kerry’s seat. Just a day earlier, the strong message from the Lynch camp was that he would definitely be announcing his campaign next week.
Boston.com notes that a recent Paleologos poll commissioned by the National Association of Government Employees had Lynch losing to Ed Markey -- to date the only declared candidate in the race -- by a ten point margin. Scott Brown, who has not yet declared his candidacy, leads Markey by ten 49-39 and Lynch by nine 42-33.
What doesn't show in the polling, however, is that Massachusetts Democrats are mobilized and enthusiastic after our November sweep, and I for one am confident we can mobilize the votes needed to win a special election in an off-year. We were caught napping in 2010, but everyone is wide awake right now. Having a ConservaDem like Lynch on the ticket would confuse the issue, so hopefully the turncoat will read the political winds correctly and keep his name out of the hat. A primary doesn't help at all, and a Lynch candidacy would positively hurt.
Markey does have an ActBlue. You can kick some cash in for the progressive in the race by going there.