Another big name Democrat is coming to rile up the base for Congressman Ed Markey (D. MA) this Saturday:
http://www.politico.com/...
Joe Biden will fly to Massachusetts Saturday to boost Rep. Ed Markey’s Senate campaign.
The vice president plans to appear with the Democrat at an afternoon rally on the campus of the University of Massachusetts in Dartmouth.
Markey, the strong frontrunner going into next Tuesday’s special election, has been getting lots of help from high-profile surrogates and hundreds of thousands of dollars in ad buys from the national party.
President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama and former President Bill Clinton have already visited the deep-blue state on his behalf.
Biden already attended a D.C. fundraiser for Markey, along with Al Gore, but the candidate did not appear because it was the same night as a debate. - Politico, 6/19/13
You can read more about Biden's top quotes from the D.C. fundraiser here:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
And if you can't make the event on Saturday, the Markey campaign is putting together another rally on Friday night:
http://www.masslive.com/...
Democratic U.S. Rep. and Senate candidate Edward Markey will be joined by U.S Rep. Richard Neal for a final rally in Springfield on Friday evening.
The get out the vote rally for Markey will provide a chance for Western Massachusetts voters to hear from the candidate before Tuesday’s special election. Markey is competing with Republican private equity investor Gabriel Gomez to fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Secretary of State John Kerry.
Neal, a Democrat from Springfield, has been joining Markey on the campaign trail and acting a surrogate for him with Western Massachusetts voters. Western Massachusetts is one of the two most liberal-leaning regions of the state, along with the Boston area. Markey’s Springfield rally indicates Markey’s need to build excitement among Western Massachusetts voters to convince people to turn out for Tuesday’s election.
The rally will be held at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Markey’s Springfield headquarters at 24 Island Pond Road. - The Republican, 6/19/13
FYI, the Boston Globe endorsed Markey again:
http://www.bostonglobe.com/...
This year’s campaign for the US Senate has offered few surprises. Each candidate has been only too willing to settle into his appointed role: Ed Markey, the reliable veteran congressman who embodies core Democratic principles; and Gabriel Gomez, the charismatic Republican newcomer whose positions on issues are a work in progress. Markey could benefit from a greater willingness to break with Democratic orthodoxies; Gomez could benefit from a few animating issues that help define him.
But these flaws don’t burden the candidates equally. Like a job seeker with a stellar resume who doesn’t entirely dazzle in the interview, Markey nonetheless retains some important selling points. At 66, he’s one of the nation’s most talented legislators, taking on such complex and farsighted tasks as charting national telecommunications policy. While some members of Congress sit back and let others do the heavy lifting of drafting bills, Markey prides himself in being at the forefront of major initiatives. In 2009, he led the House to pass a “cap and trade” bill to make historic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, a deeply important measure that got bottled up in the Senate. He pushed through new requirements for airline cargo screening. He was the leader in extending daylight-savings time, a deceptively significant move that saved billions of dollars worth of electricity.
Far from being a detriment, Markey’s Washington experience fills a need for a state that lost Senator Edward M. Kennedy to brain cancer in 2009, and John Kerry to the State Department this year. Freshman Senator Elizabeth Warren is carving out a niche on banking and loan issues, but it’s not realistic to envision her exercising enough clout to, say, provide an extra $250 million a year in federal reimbursements to Boston’s teaching hospitals, as Kerry did. Markey, who served in the House with dozens of current senators, has proven beyond any doubt that he’s a vigilant guardian of the Bay State’s interests in the capital: He will step easily into the role of veteran dealmaker, making himself the go-to guy for local industries and institutions.
That’s a credential that Markey downplays on the campaign trail, probably because some voters wrongly assume that members of Congress who represent their parties on major issues must be part of the Washington gridlock, partisans who resist compromise. In fact, it’s usually back-bench ideologues that block progress, not party leaders. It would be logical for Gomez, in challenging a congressman with nearly 37 years of seniority, to argue that Markey’s time has passed, that however excellent his service, the voters deserve a fresh voice. But Gomez hasn’t made that case. Instead, he argues that Markey, with his long tenure, must bear responsibility for all the failures of Washington during that time, from excessive partisanship to piling up decades of debt. “Congressman, you are Washington,” he declares repeatedly.
This slogan may reveal as much about Gomez’s lack of knowledge of the legislative process as about Markey’s failures. For while Markey’s record is, indeed, long enough to extend back to the Carter era, Gomez’s political dossier is blank: He’s running as himself, with no track record in office. That’s why his failure to identify key priorities beyond those already in front of the Senate is a missed opportunity to fill in some of the space in his political resume. In contrast, Warren made it clear as a first-time candidate last fall that, apart from any other issue that might arise, she would focus on bankruptcy and financial regulation. Voters need such information. Knowing candidates’ personal priorities helps to illuminate what makes them tick. Voters simply don’t know enough about Gomez as a politician. - Boston Globe, 6/19/13
The Globe endorsed Markey during the primary and they are now endorsing him for the Special Election. If you would like to get involved with the campaign or get more information about the rallies on Friday and Saturday, you can check out Markey's website for more info:
http://www.edmarkey.com/