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MA-SEN: Lynch Out, Khazei In

Eric Kleefeld | September 15, 2009, 12:10PM

MA-SEN

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The Democratic field to succeed Ted Kennedy is now taking further shape, with one candidate getting in and another, who had been expected to run, getting out instead.

Rep. Stephen Lynch, who had taken out nomination papers, has now announced that he's not running. Lynch said in a statement: "the challenge of putting together the resources and organization necessary to wage a competitive statewide campaign in less than 90 days is insurmountable."

Meanwhile, Alan Khazei, founder the community service organization Be The Change, is getting in the race. Businessman Steve Pagliuca is also interested, but has not officially decided.

State Attorney General Martha Coakley is officially in, and Rep. Michael Capuano has taken out papers and has said he's "99.9 percent there." The Democratic primary will be held December 8.

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3 comments

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Schmed

September 15, 2009 12:17 PM

Meanwhile, the full court press is on for the interim appointment.

But with the level of support in the House and Senate uncertain, the fate of the legislation may well depend on how hard Murray and House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo advocate for it. Both have been meeting behind closed doors, but have remained publicly noncommittal.
“They can pressure all they want, but until DeLeo and Therese Murray are decided on what they want, it’s basically moot,’’ state Representative John Binienda, a Worcester Democrat who opposes the change, said of proponents of the change. “Let’s face it: If they decide either way, that’s the way that it will be pushed. If they decide they want it to pass, the bill will not be put forth into either chamber until they have the votes.’’

Rome, fiddles, matches....

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obamaman

September 15, 2009 1:00 PM

am I the only one who's underwhelmed by this group of candidates so far?
I know you can't really replace Kennedy, but there's gotta be someone better up there. Saw Coakley recently on tv, and she came across as a fairly generic career politician, and not particularly passionate about anything.

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midnight rambler

September 15, 2009 2:04 PM in reply to obamaman

I think everyone is underwhelmed. Everyone who anyone is strongly for has dropped out by this point. Some people really like Lynch, but he's pretty socially conservative. Joe Kennedy passed. Coakley, as you say, is uninspiring. The owner of the Celtics is thinking of running and claims to be a progressive but contributed to Romney for Senate in 1994 and Weld for governor.

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