Massachusetts Democratic Party

Scott Brown's stunning upset over Attorney General Martha Coakley gave Massachusetts Republicans momentum they haven't seen in a generation or more. If a relatively unknown Republican state senator could best a statewide officeholder and rising star in the Democratic Party, isn't anything politically possible? Whether Brown was a fluke or a trendsetter won't be known until scores of statewide races are decided in November. But political observers say this spring's special election to fill Brown's state Senate seat could be a bellwether and an interesting look at how both parties are dealing with the shifting political landscape. At Tuesday's filing deadline, two Democrats and one Republican were in the race for the seat covering parts of Norfolk, Bristol, and Middlesex counties. ``To continue the momentum that we started with Scott Brown's win, I think we definitely need to keep this seat in Republican hands, to continue the momentum into November,'' said Susan Blais, vice chairwoman o

WASHINGTON - Senator Scott Brown railed yesterday against President Obama and congressional Democrats for continuing their quest to pass a comprehensive health care bill, saying the majority party in Washington has failed to heed the lessons of his own surprise victory in January. ``I was sent here in a message almost, to the administration and people up on Capitol Hill, that the American people expect us to do better,'' the Massachusetts Republican told a conference of the National Association of Health Underwriters in his most extensive remarks on health care since arriving in the capital. ``Right now the health care plan they're pushing, in particular, and the way they're trying to do it, is wrong.'' Brown ran against the health overhaul during his special election campaign, and his win stalled the bill because it took away the Democrats' 60-vote, supermajority needed to pass the measure over a Republican filibuster. Democrats are contemplating pushing the bill through the Senate us

About 30 seats in the Massachusetts Legislature could open up this year as state lawmakers abandon posts they held for years, or even decades, to run for other offices or retire. As a result, the Legislature appears poised for one of its biggest overhauls in years, amid the taint of a corruption probe, anti-incumbent voter sentiment, and a Republican revolt fueled by the surprise election of Scott Brown to the US Senate. Democrats hastened to note that most of the departing lawmakers are running for other posts, including sheriff in numerous counties, and the state Senate seat vacated by Brown. Whatever the reasons for leaving, Republicans are hoping to capitalize on Brown's success to make inroads in the Democrat-dominated Legislature, especially as the majority party loses some experienced members. They include Representative Marie St. Fleur of Dorchester, who had held onto her seat after tax and financial problems dragged her out of the lieutenant governor race in 2006, and state Se

BOSTON - From Acton to Andover, voters packed the polls during last month's special election to replace the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy. Election officials reported record turnout in a race that resulted in the stunning victory of Republican Scott Brown over Democrat Martha Coakley. But in Chelsea, Lawrence, and New Bedford, cities with sizable Latino populations that have traditionally voted Democratic, turnout was low. Some residents said they didn't know or didn't care that an election was going on, given the lack of signs and campaign visits to their cities. Now, just weeks after the epic defeat by Brown and new concerns about a shrinking base, the Massachusetts Democratic Party is launching an aggressive effort to attract Latino voters, the state's fastest-growing population. On Saturday, the state's Democrats will hold Spanish- language workshops for Latino activists interested in volunteering in campaigns and raising money for candidates. In addition, party officials hope to

Patrick Kennedy's decision not to seek reelection, leaving Congress without a Kennedy for the first time in more than six decades, was less political than personal, he told the Globe yesterday. ``People who know me or know my political history know that I've faced a lot more difficult political obstacles than anything I'm facing now,'' he said outside a television station in Providence. ``People in this state have been with me through very big ups and downs. . . . That wouldn't have been a problem.'' Kennedy, a strong campaigner with a sturdy war chest, said he did not believe he was at risk of losing reelection but that he lacked the ``fire in the belly'' he needed for a campaign season. ``There's no doubt that I'm carrying a lot of grief and feelings that I think occupy a lot of my emotional energy,'' he told WPRI-TV. ``And right now you need to be able to give everything. And right now I want to focus on delivering for this state, and I know I can do that for the next eight months.

WASHINGTON - US Representative Patrick Kennedy has decided not to seek reelection, capping a dramatic year for the Kennedy family and probably leaving it without a member in Washington for the first time in more than six decades. Kennedy made the decision based on ``some personal struggles,'' including the death in August of his father, Edward M. Kennedy, according to a Democratic official briefed on the decision. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because Patrick Kennedy has not yet made a formal announcement. That announcement is expected to come Sunday, when a TV advertisement taped by Kennedy is set to air in Rhode Island. In that tape, circulated by the media last night, Kennedy says his ``life is taking a new direction, and I will not be a candidate for reelection this year.'' In the two-minute ad, with soft music playing in the background, he says he wants to continue working to help those with depression, addiction, autism, and post-traumatic stress disorder. ``My

Over the years, the Shields family and employees at their medical testing network have been dependable contributors to Democrats in Massachusetts. But Thursday night, they will host their second fund-raiser for Charles D. Baker, the Republican candidate for governor and former CEO of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care. It's one of many examples of how Baker, in his torrid fund-raising drive, has mined with extraordinary efficiency the health care industry he left last July to become a candidate. A Boston Globe analysis of contributor reports shows that in seven months Baker's campaign raised more than $122,000 in contributions tied directly to Harvard Pilgrim. This includes not only $43,000 in contributions from Harvard Pilgrim's employees, directors, and affiliated companies, but also a broad array of vendors: its accountants, auditing firm, advertising agency, information technology providers, and consultants. In total, Baker has raised at least $263,000 from employees of health-care provid

Mike Urbonas was waving blue-and-red campaign signs for Democrat Martha Coakley yesterday in downtown Melrose, hoping to give the campaign a jolt and help derail her surging Republican opponent, Scott Brown. ``It just didn't need to be this close,'' Urbonas, a 46-year-old from Wakefield, said somewhat wistfully. Tommy White, a 23-year-old Brown supporter from Newton, could hardly believe it, either. ``Scrape and claw for a few more days, and hopefully we can get this,'' said White, who held a Brown sign in Quincy wearing stars-and-stripes sweat pants. The divergent emotions illustrate how a once-sleepy contest for US Senate has become, in the final weekend of the race, un imaginably close, with Coakley and her party doing everything they can to hold on to a reliably Democratic seat. As both candidates barnstormed Eastern Massachusetts yesterday, each was forced to adapt to a new reality: Coakley's campaign sought to rally its base, while Brown rode the fervent energy of supporters, gid

Mass. GOP Senate candidate Brown calls on Democrats to retract anti-abortion mailer. Republican Scott Brown charged Saturday that a Democratic mailing against his U.S. Senate campaign violates a Massachusetts law prohibiting false statements against a political candidate.

State Senator Scott P. Brown laughed last week when a national media personality asked him to elaborate on his politics: By describing himself as a fiscal conservative and an independent, did Brown mean to suggest he's a social liberal? ``No,'' Brown chuckled in the radio interview. ``I'm not known as a social liberal, that's for sure.'' The inquiring host was Sean Hannity, cohost of Fox News Network's ``Hannity and Colmes,'' who - like other conservatives across the country - was suddenly showering Brown with attention. A poll had just indicated that Brown was within striking distance of his Democratic rival to succeed the late Edward M. Kennedy, suggesting the tantalizing possibility of upending the Democrats' filibuster-proof majority in the US Senate and derailing the health care overhaul from Kennedy's home turf. In liberal Massachusetts, the moderate Brown tends not to advertise his status as a minority Republican. Just try to find his party designation on his campaign website. B

In the special election for US Senate, the Kennedy shadow is so long that it extends all the way into the Republican Party. Or so it would seem from the first television ad of the race, in which Scott Brown, the GOP candidate, employs an unlikely visage to make his case to voters: President John F. Kennedy, not just a Democrat but the brother of the man who held the seat for nearly a half-century. ``He certainly understands who's popular in Massachusetts,'' joked Philip W. Johnston, a former Massachusetts Democratic Party chairman and longtime Kennedy family friend. ``And it isn't members of his party.'' The ad was immediately attacked by Democrats and Kennedy associates as a misguided exploitation of the former president's image. ``Does Scott Brown really want voters to compare him to JFK?'' asked Scott Ferson, a former aide to Edward M. Kennedy. ``Really?'' But Brown, who is making a play for moderate Democrats and independents in his battle with Democrat Martha Coakley, is using the

Massachusetts governor decides against using stimulus for footbridge near Patriots stadium. Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick moved Friday to defuse a potential political time bomb by announcing he will no longer use federal economic stimulus money to pay for a pedestrian footbridge sought by the billionaire owner of the New England Patriots.

President Obama, on a whirlwind visit to Boston yesterday, linked Governor Deval Patrick's political fate to the fate of the nation, telling Patrick supporters at a downtown fund-raiser that the governor had made the kind of hard choices the country needs to make to put itself on a stronger course. Sweeping into town for the fund-raiser and to deliver a speech on clean energy at MIT, Obama said Patrick deserves credit for implementing near-universal health care, investing in education, and making the alternative energy and biotech industries a priority. If voters fail to recognize this hard work in next year's state election, the president said, it will not bode well for the United States. ``When the people of states reward the courageous and hard-working governors like that, that has implications for our nation as a whole,'' Obama said at a 125-person reception at the Westin Copley Place. Otherwise, Obama said, other political leaders will say ``then maybe I shouldn't, as a member of

BROOKLINE - If he was having a difficult day, former governor Michael S. Dukakis tried not to show it. He took his wife, Kitty, for outpatient knee surgery. He taught a political science class at Northeastern University and spoke at a campus event about health care as a basic right. Then he graciously fielded questions on what it was like, once again, to be a contender but not quite make it. ``Hey, after you've run for the presidency of the United States . . .'' Dukakis said, before trailing off. Dukakis, 75, was for several weeks the most often-mentioned candidate for appointment by Governor Deval Patrick to temporarily replace the late Edward M. Kennedy in the US Senate until a special election is held Jan. 19. But yesterday, Patrick announced that he had made a different choice, naming Paul G. Kirk Jr., a former Democratic National Committee chairman and the favorite of the Kennedy family, to take the seat. ``If it had to be somebody else, believe me, this was the guy,'' Dukakis sai

Sooner or later, every political dynasty faces this question: Who are we now? With the death of its patriarch, that moment has arrived for the Kennedy family. And so a clan that, no less than the Adamses, the Roosevelts, and the Bushes, has been defined by the public offices it held must set a future course without the compass and standard-bearer for its political tradition, Senator Edward M. Kennedy. It would be premature to declare an end to that tradition - speculation is rampant that the senator's nephew, former US Representative Joseph P. Kennedy 2d, or widow, Victoria Reggie Kennedy, would run for his seat - but some observers predict a quiet transformation in the family's identity now that its charismatic leader is gone. ``I have a feeling that many of them are going to opt for making contributions in fields other than politics,'' said Philip W. Johnston, chairman of the board of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights and former head of the Massachusetts Democra

Mass. lawmakers brace for hearing on bill to temporarily fill Kennedy's vacant Senate seat. Democratic and Republican lawmakers are gearing up for a contentious public hearing over a bill that would allow Gov. Deval Patrick to name a temporary replacement for the late Sen. Kennedy's vacant U.S. Senate seat.

A partial list of those who attended Sen. Edward Kennedy's funeral in Boston. A partial list of those who attended Sen. Edward Kennedy's funeral in Boston on Saturday:

Sooner or later, every political dynasty faces this question: Who are we now? With the death of its patriarch, that moment has arrived for the Kennedy family. And so a clan that has been defined by the public offices it held must now set a future course without the standard-bearer for its political tradition, Senator Edward M. Kennedy. It would be premature to declare an end to that tradition - speculation is rampant that the senator's nephew, former US Representative Joseph P. Kennedy 2d, or widow, Victoria Reggie Kennedy, would run for his seat - but some observers predict a quiet transformation in the family's identity now that its charismatic leader is gone. ``I have a feeling that many of them are going to opt for making contributions in fields other than politics,'' said Philip W. Johnston, chairman of the board of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights and former head of the Massachusetts Democratic Party. ``They believe that there are many ways to make a contri

Ailing Kennedy seeks to have seat filled quickly, if needed, as Congress eyes health overhaul. For nearly half a century, Sen. Edward Kennedy has guarded his family's political legacy. Stricken with cancer and as Congress takes up his signature issue, he is tending to his own.

Charles D. Baker Jr. uttered two words in a generic conference room this week - ``I'm in'' - that immediately jolted to life a state Republican Party that has struggled in recent years for its very existence. The party has no statewide office holders, no members of the congressional delegation, fewer legislators than ever before, and little in the way of signature issues. But Baker's campaign could prove to be a virtual stimulus package for the state GOP, not only putting consultants back to work, but bringing the party back to a brand of Republicanism that has proved to be politically successful in Massachusetts over many years, a blend of moderate social views and fiscal restraint. It was the kind of platform that William F. Weld ran on, twice, and it was the platform that Mitt Romney ran on in 2002, but then abandoned as he stoked his national ambitions by adopting more conservative positions. ``There's a pretty clear formula for electing a Massachusetts Republican in this economy,