Common Wealth: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not in Mass Politics?

Friday, March 08, 2013

Adam Joseph Drici, GoLocalWorcester Contributor

Every Friday, GoLocalWorcester takes a look at who's rising and falling in the Massachusetts political world.

Hot

Ed Markey: The progressive Congressman from Malden seems to be solidifying his lead in the primary contest against fellow U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch for John Kerry's seat in the U.S. Senate. A UMass-Lowell/Boston Herald poll released this week found Markey leading Lynch by 29 points, 50 percent to 29 percent, among potential voters for the Democratic primary scheduled for April 30. Another poll released this week by the League of Conservation Voters and NARAL Pro-Choice America, both of which have endorsed Markey in the race, found the senior statesman holding onto a somewhat more modest but still significant 14-point advantage, 42 percent to 28 percent.

Dan Winslow: On the Republican side, former Romney aide and current Norfolk state Rep. Dan Winslow came out on top in a GOP straw poll of close to 200 active party members held over the weekend at the Danversport Yacht Club. Winslow racked up 79 votes, while Cohasset businessman and former Navy SEAL Gabriel Gomez took in 59 votes and former U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan collected 55 votes. While the small sample of a select population isn't much to go by at this stage in the game, it does offer some indication of where the GOP faithful will be putting their efforts in the coming months before the June 25 special election.

Scott Brown: The former Senator turned Fox News contributor received some positive news for his future political prospects this week, when a new poll found support on both sides of the aisle for a Brown run for Governor in 2014. Of the 600 registered voters polled in the UMass-Lowell/Boston Herald telephone survey, 32.7 percent said they would be very likely to support Brown in a contest to succeed Governor Deval Patrick, and 26 percent said they would be somewhat likely to support the Republican. More than a third, or 26.7 percent, of Democrats responding were supportive of Brown, but with the numbers advantage the Dems enjoy over the Mass GOP, that bipartisan support may not be enough to top whoever the Democratic party ultimately puts on the ballot.

Karyn Polito: The former GOP state Rep. from Shrewsbury is back in the news after former U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan named her campaign chairman for his U.S. Senate campaign on Monday. Polito, who served a decade in the state House of Representatives for the 11th Worcester District, made an unsuccessful run for state Treasurer in 2010, and her involvement with Sullivan's campaign will likely help give him a boost in Central Mass.

Not

Stephen Lynch: Poll numbers aside, the Congressman from South Boston did not have a good week. Seen by many as the union candidate, Lynch will be facing off against Markey in the Democratic primary without the backing of the largest labor union in the Commonwealth. The Massachusetts AFL-CIO will not be endorsing either candidate in the special U.S. Senate election primary after neither Lynch nor Markey was able to drum up the two-thirds majority required for an official endorsement from the union last Friday. Add to that the fact that Lynch was the only member of the Bay State's congressional delegation left off a letter to the Supreme Court to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act. His staff said an email miscommunication was to blame for Lynch not being made aware of the brief, which may or may not have made the situation any better.

Worcester City Auditor Search: The City's search for replacement for long-time City Auditor James DelSignore has not gone very well, and the prospects seem rather bleak. DelSignore already agreed to postpone his retirement and stay on another year, but the City continues to struggle to find a qualified candidate who either lives in Worcester or is willing to relocate to the Heart of the Commonwealth. The dearth of viable options prompted some City Councilors to suggest that the City consider lifting the residency requirement for the position.

People's Pledge: The "People's Pledge" between Elizabeth Warren and Scott Brown that kept third-party ads out of the 2012 U.S. Senate race in Mass. and became a bit of a point of pride for Bay State politics is not being met with the same warm embrace in this year's special U.S. Senate election to replace John Kerry. Both Markey and Lynch have signed on, so the provisions of the Pledge will hold during the Democratic primary contest, but it seems that all bets will be off in the June election, with all three Republican candidates saying "Thanks, but no thanks," to the Democrats' offer, citing the rather valid point that Lynch's more than $750,000 and Markey's more than $3 million war chests put them at a distinct disadvantage if they also say no to outside ad support.