BOSTON — Democrats are dispatching a lineup of political heavyweights to Massachusetts, backed by a river of outside money, to head off the possibility that another upstart Republican pulls off a Senate special election stunner.
National Republican groups have been reluctant to devote resources to a race that many Washington-based strategists have thought unwinnable for the GOP. Yet both parties know special elections draw far fewer voters — and they remember the special election in 2010 that ended with a Republican winning the Senate seat long held by the late Edward M. Kennedy.
And Democrats, already down one Senate seat with the death this week of Sen. Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey, don’t want to appear complacent even as polls suggest a likely victory for longtime Rep. Ed Markey when voters cast ballots in two weeks.
Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz is visiting Massachusetts this weekend. President Barack Obama campaigns with Markey just days later.
Gabriel Gomez, the Republican running to replace former Sen. John Kerry, is casting Obama’s visit as a sign of the GOP’s own fortunes.
“Congressman Markey must be feeling some extreme heat to bring in somebody of President Obama’s caliber,” said Gomez, a former Navy SEAL with no political experience.
Gomez drew attention Thursday when former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani joined him in downtown Boston, and Gomez planned to greet voters outside TD Garden before the Boston Bruins’ playoff game against Pittsburgh on Friday.
Markey pushed back with a campaign swing Friday alongside Rep. Xavier Becerra of California, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus.
Republicans are waiting to see if the contest tightens enough to justify spending big on TV ads to try to repeat the shocker of 2010, when Scott Brown unexpectedly won Kennedy’s seat.
Brown served less than a full term. He was defeated last year by Elizabeth Warren, a liberal Democrat and former Harvard Law School professor.
Gomez said Friday he’s unfazed by the spending.
The decisions “to flood Massachusetts with more dirty, negative attacks prove that national Democrats are now in a full-fledged panic,” he said.
More than Democratic pride is at stake. Democrats narrowly control the Senate, and party officials acknowledge that Obama can’t afford to lose another reliably liberal vote when he has big-ticket legislative priorities on his plate. Upcoming votes on immigration and the budget could come down to just a few votes.
