Coakley Comfortably Ahead in Massachusetts Senate Race

Heading into the Massachusetts Democratic primary on Dec. 8, Attorney General Martha Coakley has a 15-point lead over her closest challenger for the nod to run for the seat vacated by the late Sen. Edward Kennedy, according to a Rasmussen Reports poll conducted Nov. 23.

Coakley leads Rep. Michael Capuano by 36 percent to 21 percent. The surprise is that Alan Kazei, co-founder of City Year, a kind of domestic Peace Corps, has moved into a tie with Boston Celtics co-owner Steve Pagliuca at 14 percent each. Five percent prefer some other candidate and 10 percent are undecided. A Boston Globe poll conducted Nov. 13-18 had Pagliuca at 15 percent and Kazei at 6 percent.