Passing Markey in the stretch.
Sunday Globe Special: Lynch Winning Sprint For Senate
"Democratic Senate hopefuls turn up the insults; In final debate, records attacked" by Jim O’Sullivan | Globe Staff, April 24, 2013
SPRINGFIELD — The final debate of the Senate Democratic primary devolved into an exchange of insults and character allegations Tuesday night, as Representatives Edward J. Markey and Stephen F. Lynch abandoned collegiality for a heated confrontation with one week remaining in their contest.
Meeting at a Springfield television station, Markey and Lynch feuded over each other’s Homeland Security records, a particularly salient policy topic after last week’s deadly Boston Marathon bombings.
The sharpest exchange, though, came when Markey said Lynch’s opposition to federal financial assistance for manufacturers prompted an endorsement for Markey from an automobile workers union. Lynch retorted that he had voted for that bailout, frequently praised by the Obama administration as a successful countermeasure to the recession.
“I don’t want to call you a liar, but you are,” Lynch told Markey.
In response, Markey said, “Steve was inappropriately, personally insulting.”
After Markey explained the allegation, Lynch turned up the heat and replied, “I take it back, you’re not a liar, you’re just misinformed.”
(Blog editor wrote smile in margin of his paper)
“He is incorrigible here,” Markey told moderator Jim Madigan of WGBY, which hosted the debate.
Lynch voted in favor of a House measure that would have aided the domestic auto industry, but against the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Washington used TARP funds to assist Detroit.
Whassat?!?!?!
Public polling has shown Markey as the front-runner, but strategists in both camps acknowledge the politically destabilizing impact of last week’s terrorist attacks that killed three people and injured 264.
Yup. Unintended con$equenes, Ed.
Lynch showed a renewed vigor at a debate televised Monday on WBZ-TV and cosponsored by the Globe, and advisers said it was indicative of the aggressive tone he would deploy during the primary campaign’s final stretch.
In Springfield, both candidates appeared to eschew the reverential tone used by all of the campaigns in the days since the bombings, eager to cut into each other and willing to engage in the most personal back-and-forth of the race. The debate had been rescheduled after all five Senate campaigns suspended active electioneering last week following Monday’s bombings.
Parrying against Lynch’s charges from the night before, Markey said his fellow Democrat had misrepresented his positions on port security legislation.
“Many of his charges are desperate, they’re sad, they’re Karl Rove-ian in their inaccuracies,” Markey said after the debate, alluding to former President George W. Bush’s political guru.
Ooooooh, low blow. Referee deducts three percentage points from his polls.
Asked after the hourlong debate about his relations with Markey, Lynch replied, “It’s not as bad as it looks.
“I don’t know what would lead him to say something like that, as baldly false,” Lynch said of Markey’s auto bailout charge. “So, I was thinking, well, maybe he thinks that this is the last debate, so he can put that out there.”
I can. Political desperation, and that's not because I'm Repuglican or pro-Lynch. I'm just an astute outside observer who happens to have a say in the matter if I choose to exercise my right to go cast a ballot into a rigged counting machine. Ah, freedom, gotta love it!
Lynch, for the second consecutive night, took off the gloves and went right at Markey over Homeland Security, questioning the votes the dean of the state’s congressional delegation cast against establishing the joint terrorism task force that helped track the alleged Marathon bombers and against a port security bill.
Markey told reporters he voted against the task force because it would have permitted the US military to play a role in domestic law enforcement.
A violation of the Constitution. Will you be a stand-up guy in the Senate, Ed?
Returning to Markey’s national security record, which he had hammered the night before, Lynch said, “You’re so far out on the left, Ed,” and called his record “ridiculous.”
If he's far left.... is there a left left?
Markey again hit Lynch on his vote against the 2010 federal health care expansion, pointing to Lynch as an outlier among Massachusetts officeholders in opposing the legislation. “You were the only one in our delegation that voted no,” Markey said. Lynch shot back, “I think I’m the only one that read the bill.”
Stop the fight! Markey's bleeding! I believe Lynch, too. His working buddies gave him a hard time about it, but he was reading the Wall Street Journal and keeping an eye on the bosses -- which means he'll probably lose in a squeaker to Markey (whose wife has connections in the social arena).
Markey continued his attack, saying that Lynch was “out of line” in voting against the health care bill, invoking the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy, who had long worked for health care expansion.
I don't like that, waving around a coffin like that for political purposes.
“This is what the Democratic Party is all about, it’s ensuring universal access to health care,” Markey said.
Earlier Tuesday, Lynch’s campaign launched a new television ad, a warm spot focused on last week’s attacks.
Genius.
Markey returned to the air with a previously aired ad highlighting women’s issues.
Flop. Men are victims of terrorism, too.
Lynch expressed postdebate confidence in next Tuesday’s outcome, telling reporters, “Maybe you’ll be surprised, but I won’t be. I’m going to win.”
Voters will choose the Democratic nominee on April 30, the same day as the Republican primary. State Representative Daniel B. Winslow, former US attorney Michael J. Sullivan, and private equity investor Gabriel E. Gomez are vying for the GOP nomination.
The general election is scheduled for June 25.
--more--"
Also see: Democrats resume ads in race for Senate
(click)
NEXT DAY UPDATE:
"Stephen Lynch’s campaign attacks take risks" by Michael Levenson | Globe Staff, April 25, 2013
With less than a week until the US Senate primary, US Representative Stephen F. Lynch is suddenly on the offensive, lacing into US Representative Edward J. Markey on security-related issues in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings.
Lynch’s abrupt decision to put the emotionally charged issues at the center of his campaign has jolted the low-key race and given the South Boston Democrat an opening against a rival who has a strong advantage in polls, fund-raising, and support from the party base.
“He’s been able to force people to take notice,” said Peter Ubertaccio, a political scientist at Stonehill College. “There are a lot more people this week talking about Steve Lynch than there were a few weeks ago.”
But the approach could produce a backlash....
NOPE!
Lynch runs the risk of appearing to politicize a tragedy....
NO WAY!
How can you POLITICIZE the MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE FACING THIS NATION and THIS WORLD?
WHERE WAS ED? WHERE WAS ED? WHERE WAS ED? WHERE WAS ED?
If you are following my continuing coverage you know he was hobnobbing with the socialites down in Washington. He'll keep his rep job, but he failed AmeriKa. He failed when we needed him most.
We had the WORLD'S TWO MOST DANGEROUS TERRORISTS in the history of the world BOMB the BOSTON MARATHON and ED WAS NOWHERE on HOMELAND SECURITY!!!
--more--"
