MA Attorney General Still Ahead In Race For Ted Kennedy's Seat

November 23, 2009 9:47 a.m. EST

Boston, MA (AHN) - With the primary only a fortnight away, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley is ahead in the race for the Senate seat of Ted Kennedy. Coakley leads in the latest poll as well as in fundraising despite  endorsements by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and the wife of Gov. Deval Patrick for her main rival, Rep. Mike Capuano (D-MA).

According to a poll commissioned by the Boston Globe, Coakley has the support of 43 percent of likely voters during the state's Dec. 8 primary election.Capuano accounts for 22 percent, while Boston Celtics managing partner Stephen Pagliuca is in third place with 15 percent. Alan Khazei, founder of an AmeriCorps organization called City Year, trails with 6 percent.

The survey also found that voters viewed Coakley, the only woman in the race, as the most qualified and most likely to win. Moreover, the 56-year-old Democrat is the second choice of those who support her rivals, and her favorability rating of 71 percent is far ahead of those of other contenders.

Capuano is viewed positively by 56 percent of primary voters, but negatively by 14 percent. Pagliuca is perceived favorably by 40 percent, but unfavorably by 22 percent. Khazei is unknown to half of voters, and has a 28 percent favorability among those who know him.

The poll, conducted by the Survey Center at the University of New Hampshire, comes less than a week after Coakley reported raising $4.1 million in just six weeks, bolstering a war chest that had raised $2 million in the first four weeks of its campaign.

Capuano, meanwhile, reported raising $1.8 million, but also received key endorsements from Pelosi, former Massachusetts First Lady Kitty Dukakis, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Massachusetts, AFL-CIO, and the Fire Chiefs Association of Massachusetts. Over the weekend, the six-term congressman bolstered his campaign with the backing of state First Lady Diane Patrick.

Coakley also faced some scrutiny last week when her campaign admitted that she made a mistake when filing her financial disclosure form that did not include 12,000 in assets.

Another point of optimism for Capuano and other rivals of Coakley is that 53 percent of voters who participated in the poll said they were still uncertain about who to support, while 24 percent said they are leaning toward a candidate. Only 28 percent said they were sure about the candidate the would vote for.

A previous Suffolk University survey also had Coakely, the first woman attorney general of the state, leading the race.

Massachusetts is holding its first open Senate race in 25 years. Kennedy, who died on Aug. 25 after more than a year of battling brain cancer, had occupied his seat for 47 years, while Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) has never lost re-election since his first term in 1984.

The special election will be on Jan. 19. Two Republicans have joined the race to succed the Senate's liberal lion: state Sen. Scott Brown and lawyer Jack Robinson.