Posted on 06/08/2013 11:42:06 AM PDT by bryan999
A Republican polling firm has found that the Massachusetts special election for the U.S. Senate is in a dead heat. Democrat Ed Markey, the longtime congressman, leads Republican and first-time candidate Gabriel Gomez by just a point. According to McLaughlin and Associates, a firm that often works for Republican candidates, 45 percent of likely voters in Massachusetts support Markey, while 44 percent support Gomez and 11 percent remain undecided. The election is on June 25.
Markey has long led Gomez in the polls, which is no surprise considering Massachusetts leans heavily Democratic. According to the Real Clear Politics average, which doesn't include the McLaughlin poll, Markey's lead over Gomez is about 10 points. But Republicans hoping to pull off an upset may find solace in Markey's high unfavorability ratings, which McLaughlin found to be 42 percent, equal to his favorability. Gomez, on the other hand, has a 48 percent favorability rating compared to a 27 percent unfavorability.
Gomez, a lifelong Republican, has taken great aims to distance himself from the national party, including voicing his support for comprehensive immigration reform, tougher gun control laws, and maintaining the current legality of abortion. His positioning as a moderate Republican could boost him in a low-turnout special election.
The Republican Party in MA is so small that they cannot win by touting the party line. You have to appeal to the independent vote. And they are socially liberal and fiscally conservative.
The only benefit anyone on FR gets from a MA republican is that they tend to vote the party line in leadership votes.
Why anyone here would expect anything more befuddles me.
And, by the way, where are all of you guys who were shouting “Scott Brown for President” when he won a few years ago. Now we are stuck with Pocahantas. Be thankful for what you can get these days.
Calvin Coolidge?
“Might be a RINO”?
Gomez has already set records for RINOism — and he’s never even held office yet.
But it’s MA and ya take what ya can get.
Oh, you’re so right. I should of thought of him. I have a copy of his biography written by Amity Shales. Yeah, but you’re going back almost ninety years.
I would agree that it is important to gain control of the Senate. And in the past, I have defended RINOs from liberal states who voted liberal when their vote didn’t matter, and voted the party line if it did.
The only trouble is that the damned GOP leadership no longer seems able, or perhaps interested, in forcing everyone to toe the party line when it really counts. They used to, but don’t seem to do it any longer. If not for Olympia Snowe’s one vote, for instance, Reid never would have gotten cloture to ram Obamacare through. She voted against it when it didn’t matter, but she voted for it when it did. And earlier, if not for McCain’s one vote, Bush would have succeeded in opening up the Alaskan wilderness for oil drilling. And he would have made his tax cuts permanent.
Will this guy vote with the leadership when it really counts? Who knows? Our current leadership doesn’t even seem to care, unfortunately, and they don’t punish offenders for voting wrong at a crucial time.
I used to work in Northampton. Getting stuck in Coolidge Bridge construction was a daily headache.
Thanks bryan999, well put Vermont Lt.
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