By Scott St. Clair
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Martha Coakley did her best to motivate her followers in organized labor at a campaign rally Tuesday by reminding them of the administration of former president George W. Bush.
Calling it “disastrous” and claiming that it was responsible for every problem in the country, it was hard to determine if she was running against the former president or her opponent for a seat in the United States Senate, Massachusetts state senator Scott Brown.
The Coakley/Brown contest is for the Senate seat vacated last year by the death of Edward M. Kennedy.
The anti-Bush theme was foreshadowed by several speakers who came before Coakley. Congressman Richard E. Neal, D-Mass., said “Dick Cheney’s vision of America isn’t Martha Coakley’s vision of America.” A reporter from a major Boston media outlet chuckled.
Neal said that “big government” was the source of American prosperity and the middle class. He offered a local veterans’ hospital as an example.
State Senator Gale Candaras advocated “bare knuckles as a political strategy.” She said, “The eyes of the world are upon us,” and that the Senate race was for “the biggest political stakes in our lifetime.”
Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno carefully removed his double-breasted designer-suit jacket and rolled up his shirt sleeves before launching into an impassioned exhortation on behalf of Coakley. He compared her to Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., on whose birthday holiday the event took place.
Coakley opened her remarks by saying how awed she was at the opportunity to meet Pres. Barack Obama and ride in the presidential limousine. She then told an old political joke about kittens opening their eyes. The joke has been used by politicians of both parties for as long as there have been politicians.
Whether she meant it or not, in her comments about veterans, she referred to them as “victims.” Later on, she said that “we are better than those folks who just say no.”
The rally was held in a Springfield Teamsters Union hall. The crowd was estimated at fewer than 200 with 26 of them being either office holders or officials with the local Democratic Party and another 14 who were members of the media. A couple dozen in attendance wore trademark-purple shirts that identified themselves as members of the Service Employees International Union.
After the formal presentations, Coakley answered a few questions from the media. When she was asked to what would she attributed the rapidly narrowing polling numbers between herself and Brown, she dismissed them as irrelevant. They’re always wrong in special elections, she said.
Stressing what she referred to as her successful accomplishments as Massachusetts attorney general, she pledged support for federal card-check legislation to make it easier for unions to organize workers. She also said she unequivocally supported federal health care legislation, but she offered no details as to whether she preferred the plan that has been passed by the U.S. House of Representatives or the one passed by the Senate.
Across the street from the Teamsters hall stood four Brown supporters. Two of them, Mary Lou Guarnera and Ken Deso, said that they had been physically confronted by SEIU members who got right up in their faces and yelled at them.
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