Dem Rep. Markey Wins US Senate Election In Mass.

[onehandle]

Source: AP

BOSTON (AP) — Longtime Democratic U.S. Rep. Edward Markey defeated Republican political newcomer Gabriel Gomez in a special election on Tuesday for the state's U.S. Senate seat long held by John Kerry, a race that failed to draw the attention that the state's 2010 special Senate election did.

Markey, 66, won the early backing of Kerry and much of the state's Democratic political establishment, which was set on avoiding a repeat of the stunning loss it suffered three years ago, when Republican state Sen. Scott Brown upset Democratic state Attorney General Martha Coakley in the election to replace the late Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy.

Gomez, a 47-year-old businessman and former Navy SEAL, positioned himself as a moderate and Washington outsider who would challenge partisan gridlock, contrasting himself with Markey, who was first elected to the U.S. House in 1976.

Markey had an advantage of about 8 percentage points over Gomez with most precincts reporting late Tuesday, according to unofficial returns. He outspent Gomez throughout the race, and Republicans were unable to match a well-oiled Democratic field organization in an election that saw relatively light turnout in much of the heavily Democratic state.

Read more: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=195425046

[Tx4obama]

1. A link below to the numbers...

Here: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/files/elections/2013/by_county/MA_Page_0625.html?SITE=MASPDELN&SECTION=POLITICS

[lordsummerisle]

2. Kinda surprised there hasn't been more reaction to this here

maybe with all the other issues going on...

[Cha]

5. Well, I'm thinking the Dems in D.C. must have a thrown a celebration and

all those in Mass who were at Senator Markey's Victory party are over the Moon! All those who care about Progress are reveling!

There's a party goin' here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/110211416

[treestar]

17. Maybe they are afraid to express their disappointment?

I'm sure there are a few DUers who are quite unhappy about this!

[demwing]

20. nice way to piss on a cool thread

so tired of the rancor, time to feed the beast.

[socialist_n_TN]

21. Perhaps a lot of people are in "wait and see" mode......

since there's not been a lot of representation, no matter which bourgeois party is in power. Until the political class shows some balls about challenging the dictatorship of capital, I'm sure that quite a few folks are skeptical.

[Cha]

3. Gomez "positioned himself as a moderate".. yeah, right.. how'd

that crap work out for ya, Gomez?

thanks onehandle and Senator Markey!

[CBHagman]

4. I've been watching Ed Markey for years...

...and even attended a hearing of a subcommittee to which he belonged. He's a good guy and I wish him the best in the Senate.

[Zorra]

6. K&R

[ellie]

7. Thank God

I read threads earlier how he might not win because of low turnout and I just couldn't.

[calimary]

11. Welcome news! A fairly shitty news day ends on an upbeat note.

I'm relieved.

[ellie]

12. Indeed.

I had to go on a news blackout at 5 p.m. MT because I was about to lose my mind.

[calimary]

23. That's what I did, too.

Just didn't want to watch the news. Too depressing.

[Brigid]

8. Whew!

Thanks, MA!

[sofa king]

9. Special hat-tip to CNN...

... For scarcely mentioning the election at all, and for keeping Markey's superb oratorical skills a secret by never showing them to a national audience.

The intent, no doubt, was to suppress turnout in order to favor the knuckledraggers in MA. But it didn't work, and that in turn is going to work in Markey's favor as he makes a larger splash next year, and who knows? Perhaps a larger one two years after that.

For those of you who failed to notice the chess game afoot, you should know that this was probably the President's plan the whole time.

[calimary]

10. Interesting. I think you make a good point, sofa king.

This is a good move - I've liked Ed Markey for a long time, and I think he'll be a GREAT voice in the Senate. Hopefully CNN and "Meet the Press" and the rest of 'em will find him harder to ignore now that he's one of only 100 rather than one out of 400+. He was our point man on net neutrality in the House. He's a good guy. MAN, with Elizabeth Warren AND Ed Markey, the proud and revered Massachusetts progressive/liberal tradition continues!

Congratulations Massachusetts! EXCELLENT move - from which we will ALL benefit, from coast to coast!

[Rowdyboy]

14. One of the best senate teams in the country. Only ones close might be Schumer and Gillibrand (NY)

Klobuchar and Franken in Wisconsin, maybe Merkley and Wyden in Oregon. I feel like I'm forgetting one but I can't call it up right now.

[Unca Jim]

25. Klobuchar and Franken

...are from beautiful blue Minnesota.

Wisconsin is spiraling down with idiots like Ron Johnson and Scott Walker racing to the bottom.

Though they did elect Tammy Baldwin over Tommy Thompson to their credit, so maybe enough people are waking up...

[Rowdyboy]

26. Very sorry for that mistake-I'm old enough to remember when Wisconsin was solid blue too

Gaylord Nelson and William Proxmire were heroes of mine back in the day but I appreciate the correction! Mea culpa!

[cilla4progress]

27. MURRAY AND CANTWELL!

My Evergreen state - Washington!

[Rowdyboy]

28. There ya go! Mikulski and Cardin of Maryland are pretty cool too!

[Jennicut]

30. Blumenthal and Murphy, if you care about gun violence.

I live in CT and the way they have been with the Newtown families has been amazing. And they won't stop fighting on gun legislation.

[calimary]

38. Well we have Barbara Boxer here in California. Feinstein - meh, sometimes.

But not always.

[Rowdyboy]

39. Feinstein is why I left California off... Like in the nursery rhyme"When she is good, she is....

very, very good and when she is bad she is horrid!"

Still, she's heads above any senator in my state, or in any state touching my state, or in any state touching a state that touches my state.

That pretty much says it all.

[calimary]

40. No kidding, Rowdyboy! That sums it up rather nicely.

DiFi is better than nothing. Liked her forceful presence in the gun debate. I liked that A LOT! I was surprised, frankly. I expected her to go sniveling to the unreliable "middle of the road," which usually finds her leaning more to the wrong side. In ANY event, she's WORLDS better than having a republi-CON!!!

EVERYONE should keep that in mind when discussing presidential politics, too. Don't just go off in a huff because the Democrat standing before you isn't perfect. ANY even cursory examination of the make-up of the Supreme Court should be enough to settle that one. Do you want someone who would tend more to nominate a Ruth Bader Ginsburg or an antonin scalia?????? Could you live with the ramifications of that for the next 20 - 30 years????????

I'm afraid that's what it comes down to. At least for me. I dislike having my vote hemmed in like that. But it is what it is. And the alternative to even a so-so Democrat is a future dominated by the scalias-alitos-thomases. And I don't think ANYONE, even the most critical DUer or progressive, really deep-down wants that.

[Cha]

13. Freakin' cnn loses AGAIN! thanks for the Schadenfreud, sofa king!

And, the President's chess game.

[Fearless]

16. The president did not choose who was elected

The people of Massachusetts did. There is no "chess" involved.

[sofa king]

29. Really?

Who chose to nominate a Massachusetts Senator for Secretary of State? Who set the timetable of that announcement, and therefore the approximate date of this special election? Who campaigned for John Kerry's successor to the seat?

Did all of that just "happen" all by itself?

Of course not. The opening moves were obvious to me back in December. Just because that isn't obvious to you does not mean it did not happen.

[Fearless]

31. I am speaking of Ed Markey. Thanks for playing.

[sofa king]

32. How about this?

Thank you to the people of the fair Commonwealth of Massachusetts for electing Ed Markey.

And, thank you to President Obama for making that election possible.

I don't want to argue with you, because we ALL won this week.

[Fearless]

33. The president has nothing to do with it.

It wouldn't have needed to be done had he not picked Kerry. That's not criticism of the president, it's just a fact. And yes we all did win, but that isn't because of the President.

[sofa king]

34. Ha ha, okay.

Then thanks to the Flying Spaghetti Monster for rotating one deserving Senator out and creating two new powerful liberal Senators in his place. I am so glad that the people of Massachusetts somehow made this possible all by themselves.

[politicasista]

37. +1 n/t

Last edited Wed Jun 26, 2013, 11:37 PM - Edit history (1)

[Fearless]

15. Told ya'll so!

[Sparky 1]

18. YAY! At least this day wasn't ALL bad.

[smirkymonkey]

19. Thank god!

Some good news at last!

[LeftishBrit]

22. Excellent news!

[bucolic_frolic]

24. Frighteningly Low Turnout

27%

Neither party can be happy with that.

What was the plan if the other team showed up?

[Agschmid]

36. I turned out! But yes very low.