High Voter Turnout In Mass. U.S. Senate Race; Braving Snow, Ice

Mass. Voters Stream To Polls In Special US Senate Election


Voters flooded the polls to cast ballots in the unexpectedly close election to succeed the late Edward M. Kennedy in the US Senate.

Light snow has not discouraged heavy traffic at polling places as more than 55,000 people cast ballots by noon in Boston, an early turnout more than double that of the primary last month. Other cities and towns experienced similar waves of voters. Lines formed at a polling place in Somerville, and traffic backed up at Bates Elementary School in Wellesley, with cars spilling onto Elmwood Road. In two Quincy precincts at the Lodge of Elks, nearly 1,000 people -- or about 25 percent of voters -- cast ballots by 1 p.m.

"I'm trying to save the nation today," said Robert Cappello, 69, a registered Republican and enthusiastic Scott Brown voter from South Boston who reveled in what he described as an "overwhelming sweep" of momentum for his candidate.

"This election is a lot about sending a message," Cappello said in an excited voice outside a polling place on H Street. "It's telling Washington to slow down."

In West Roxbury at St. George Orthodox Church, Phil DiCarlo cast his ballot for Democrat Martha Coakley but noted how quickly the Brown campaign gathered steam.

"It seems like people have short memories," DiCarlo said. "They forgot about the last eight years" under former president George Bush.

Brown, a Republican state senator from Wrentham, has surged more than 30 points in the polls in a special election for the US Senate seat Democrats have held for generations. Brown has vowed to be the crucial 41st Republican vote blocking President Obama’s health care legislation in the Senate.

Coakley, the state attorney general, was the early front runner after her decisive victory in the Democratic primary last month. She supports the health care overhaul and stood with Obama in Boston this weekend at a rally for her campaign.

An independent candidate, Joseph L. Kennedy of Dedham -- no relation to the late senator -- also appears on today’s ballot.

At the Lodge of Elks in Quincy, Ruth Faherty, a 25-year-old nurse, cast her ballot for Brown. "I think we need him in there to make more of a fight in the senate," said Faherty, who described herself as an unenrolled voter. "I think if there are too many on one side [of the aisle] it becomes lopsided."

In Stoughton at Gibbons Elementary School, a steady stream of voters slogged through the cold and snow. Many said they cast ballots for Brown, citing his common appeal and objections to President Obama's health care overhaul.

"They took everything for granted in this race," said unenrolled voter Richard Whittington, 48, of Democrats. "It's the same arrogance you see in Washington.''

In Natick, the persistent flow of voters included Rex Kidd, 48, the owner of a local masonry and paving company who voted for Brown because of his pro-business, conservative views.

"I respect Martha Coakley and what she's accomplished in her career. But I think she's going to preserve the status quo," Kidd said. "Scott Brown can take us to the next level … [Brown] is going to decrease my taxes and get rid of all the wasteful spending that Deval Patrick has done. Cutting taxes fuels the economy, not charging more taxes and spending it on social programs."





Outside Natick High School, Randy Divinski took a vacation day from his job at a non-profit to clutch a Coakley sign in 30-degree weather.

"I am bothered by stealth Republicans who run as moderate," said Divinski, 46. "Brown has a political record, but that is not what he's running on," said Divinski. "We've just had eight years of screwball economic policies, and he wants to go back to that? One Herbert Hoover is enough."

In Jamaica Plain at Kennedy Elementary school, more than 100 people -- or about 10 percent of voters -- had cast ballots by 11 a.m. That number equaled roughly the entire turnout for the primary last month. Like most of the others interviewed in this left-leaning precinct, Sasha Cantu, 21, said she voted for Martha Coakley.

“I don’t want Brown because he didn’t want to help rape victims,” Cantu said. “She’ll do everything Teddy Kennedy wanted to do.”

In South Boston, Patrick Shaughnessy, 33, cast his vote for Brown because of Coakley's "entitlement attitude."

"She didn't really campaign. She wouldn't debate him one-on-one," said Shaughnessy, an unenrolled voter who supported Republican Senator John McCain in 2008. "She just expected to win."

Another unenrolled voter, Jackie Crowell, 26, also voted for Brown. "I think my views align a lot better with his than Martha Coakley's," Crowell said.

Maureen Downs, 51, came to the opposite conclusion and cast her vote for Coakley.

"I don't agree with Scott Brown's positions on anything," said Downs, citing economic regulations, emergency contraception, and more.

Her husband, Eddie Downs, 50, added: "I just don't think he would be good for the working man and woman of the Commonwealth."

Democrats are hoping a coordinated get-out-the-vote effort for Coakley will hold off the surging Republican. Brown's campaign is hoping the raw energy among his supporters is enough to overpower the state’s Democratic machinery.

The cold, cloudy weather could be a challenge for the candidates. Intermittent light snow showers – and some rain – are expected throughout the day and into the early evening.
Polls remain open until 8 p.m.

To read profiles of the candidates and a rundown of where they stand on the issues, click here for Brown; here for Coakley; and here for Kennedy. To find out where to vote, click here.







Massachusetts Vote Could Affect Obama Agenda


Voters across Massachusetts braved winter cold and snow Tuesday to decide who will inherit the U.S. Senate seat controlled by the Kennedy family since 1953.

At stake was President Obama's domestic agenda, including the overhaul of health care.

If GOP state Sen. Scott Brown upsets Democratic Attorney General Martha Coakley, Republicans would strip Democrats of their 60-seat filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. Republicans would have enough votes to block future Senate votes on a broad range of White House priorities.

Election turnout is expected to be "pretty good," said Brian McNiff, a spokesman for the office of Massachusetts Secretary of State Bill Galvin.

Galvin predicted Monday as many 2.2 million of 4.5 million registered voters would vote -- at least double the turnout from December's primary.

"I don't think weather is going to impede too many people" from coming out to vote, McNiff said. "I think the interest in this election will trump any bad weather."

More than 100,000 absentee ballots have been requested, he added.

Coakley initially was expected to win the race easily to replace Sen. Ted Kennedy, known as the "liberal lion" of the Senate who made health care reform the centerpiece of his nearly 47-year Senate career. Kennedy, 77, died of brain cancer in August.

Former Kennedy aide and longtime friend Paul Kirk was appointed to the seat on an interim basis after the senator's death.

Until recently, Brown was underfunded and unknown statewide. No Republican has won a U.S. Senate race in Massachusetts since 1972. Democrats control the governorship, both houses of the state Legislature and the entire congressional delegation.

The latest poll, however, shows Brown leading Coakley by 7 percentage points, 52 percent to 45 percent. The American Research Group survey, taken Friday through Sunday, had a sampling error of 4 percentage points.

No poll released in the past few days has shown Coakley ahead.

Obama and former President Clinton hit the campaign trail over the past three days in an attempt to save Coakley's campaign, which observers said has been hampered by complacency and missteps.

Obama crushed Sen. John McCain in Massachusetts in 2008, beating the GOP presidential nominee by 26 percentage points.

"If you were fired up in the last election, I need you more fired up in this election," Obama urged a crowd Sunday at a Coakley campaign rally.

Vicki Kennedy, the late senator's widow, called on Democrats to turn out to save her husband's legacy.

"We need your help. We need your support. We need you to get out there and vote on Tuesday," Kennedy said. "We need you to bring your neighbors. We need you to bring your friends."

Brown, who has trumpeted his 30 years of service in the National Guard, hewed to traditional GOP themes at the end of the campaign. He promised at a rally Sunday that, if elected, he would back tax cuts and be tougher on terrorists than Coakley.

He also repeated a pledge to oppose Obama's health care overhaul effort.

"Massachusetts wants real reform and not this trillion-dollar Obama health care that is being forced on the American people," he said. "As the 41st [Republican] senator, I will make sure that we do it better."

Forty-four percent of Massachusetts voters cited the economy and jobs as their top concern in a recent 7 News/Suffolk University poll. Thirty-eight percent mentioned health care as their top concern.

Voters more concerned with the economy were split almost evenly between the two candidates; voters more worried about health care narrowly supported Coakley.

Democrats far outnumber Republicans in Massachusetts, but there are more independents than Democrats and Republicans combined.

Democratic sources said Obama advisers have told the party they believe Coakley is going to lose. The sources said they still hoped Obama's weekend visit to the state, coupled with a late push by party activists, could tip the balance in her favor.

Facing the possibility of Coakley's defeat, Democrats were trying to figure out if they could pass health care legislation without that crucial 60th Senate vote.

But top White House aides publicly insisted they are not engaging in any talk of contingency plans because they believe Coakley will come out on top Tuesday.

Galvin, a Democrat, said last week that certifying Tuesday's election results could take more than two weeks -- potentially enough time to allow congressional Democrats to pass a final health care bill before Brown would be seated should he win.

But Democratic sources said this is unlikely.

Two Democratic sources in close contact with the White House said Monday they've urged the Obama administration, in the event of a Brown victory, to push House Democrats to pass the Senate's health care bill as currently written. Doing so would prevent the Senate from having to take up the plan again.

"I think the Senate bill clearly is better than nothing," House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Maryland, said Tuesday.

A third option would be for Democrats to revisit the idea of trying to push health care through the Senate with 51 votes -- a simple majority.

But to do so, Democrats would have to use a process known as reconciliation, which presents technical and procedural issues that would delay the process for a long time. A number of Democrats are eager to put the health care debate behind them and move on to economic issues such as job creation as soon as possible this election year.

Senate Democrats also could try again to get moderate GOP Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine to vote for a compromise health care plan. Multiple Democratic sources, however, have said they believe such a scenario is unlikely.



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Sources: AP, Boston Globe, CNN, Youtube, Google Maps