Celtics Co-Owner To Launch Campaign For Kenendy's Senate Seat Thursday

September 17, 2009 10:11 a.m. EST

Boston, MA (AHN) - Boston Celtics managing partner Stephen Pagliuca on Thursday launches his campaign for the Senate seat left open by the death of Ted Kennedy, according to reports. Pagliuca will be the second Democrat, and fourth contender to officially enter the first open Senate race in Massachusetts since 1984.

Pagliuca will make an announcement at 3:00 pm at the Celtics' TD Garden, according to the National Journal. Following the event, he will launch a TV ad blitz that will portray him as a progressive, the Boston Globe also reports.

The 54-year-old is managing director of Bain Capital, a private equity firm founded by former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who ran unsuccessfully for Kennedy's Senate seat in 1994 and who last month declined from running again.

A graduate of Duke University, he has an MBA from Harvard University and is chairman of the Duke University Trinity Board of Advisors, the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children and the Boston Celtics Shamrock Foundation. He also serves in the board of Burger King, the Gartner Group and Warner Chilcott.

Before joining Bain Capital in 1982, he was senior accountant and international tax specialist for Peat Marwick Mitchell & Company in the Netherlands.

Only three contenders have officially entered the race. Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley, a Democrat, was the first to announce a bid. Two Republicans have thrown their hat in the race: state Sen. Scott Brown and Canton Selectman Bob Burr.

The primary is on Dec. 8, and the special election is on Jan. 19.

Kennedy held his seat for 47 years, making the race the first open Senate contest in the state since Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) won his first term 25 years ago.

Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA) on Tuesday said he will not run, despite having pulled nomination papers last week. His decision followed a similar announcement from Rep. John Tierney (D-MA). Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA), who has represented the 7th district since 1976, also said last Friday he will stay in his current post.

Former Rep. Joseph Kennedy II, son of Robert Kennedy, previously said he would not run, ending speculation whether the Kennedy family would seek to keep the seat held for 47 years by the liberal lion of the Senate.

The widow of Kennedy, Vicki Kennedy, early on had expressed no interest in running or being appointed as interim replacement in the months before the election.

Reps. Mike Capuano (D-MA) and Jim McGovern (D-MA) are still on the shortlist of potential candidates. In addition, Alan Khazei, founder of an AmeriCorps organization called City Year, is said to have pulled nomination papers.

Former Boston Red Sox Pitcher Curt Schilling, an independent who endorsed Republicans in the 2004 and 2008 presidential races, also said early this month he "has some interest" in entering the race but that "many many things would have to align themselves for that to truly happen."

A new poll from Suffolk University/7NEWS has Coakley as the top contender overall.

Among Democrats, Coakley has 53 percent favorablilty, while Capuano has 16 percent and Pagliuca 3 percent. The state Attorney General would also win a primary with 47 percent, followed by Capuano with 9 percent, Lynch 6 percent and Khazei 3 percent.

On the Republican side, Schilling has 29 percent favorability, followed by Brown with 20 percent.

A general election match-up between Coakly and Brown would have the Democrat winning by a 54-24 percent margin.