Markey and Lynch Outline Visions in Vying for Mass. Senate Seat

BOSTON â€" The declared candidates in Massachusetts’ special Senate election, Representative Edward J. Markey and Representative Stephen F. Lynch, gave Democrats a first glimpse into their primary contest Thursday night, with Mr. Lynch casting himself as a candidate who can appeal to political moderates, while Mr. Markey focused on his liberal stands.

The two separately addressed a meeting of the state’s Democratic State Committee, held at the Boston Teacher’s Union in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood, bookending a joint appearance by Senator Elizabeth Warren and Senator John Kerry.

Mr. Kerry was his final hours on the job before he becomes Secretary of State, creating the vacancy Mr. Lynch and Mr. Markey are vying to fill. Also present was William “Mo” Cowan, who earlier this week was appointed to fill Mr. Kerry’s seat until the special election for the seat in June.

Speaking first, Mr. Lynch, who formally announced his candidacy at a union-hall rally in South Boston earlier on Thursday, made an appeal to to a political establishment that initially seemed eager to avoid a primary after Mr. Markey announced his candidacy in December.

Drawing on his record as a moderate Democrat, Mr. Lynch argued that he would be better suited than Mr. Markey to defeat Scott P. Brown, t! he former Republican senator who won his seat in a special election in 2010 but lost to Ms. Warren in November, and who is considered a likely candidate for the Republican nomination in the race. Mr. Lynch recalled how Mr. Brown made a concerted effort to reach out to independent voters and presented himself as an everyman with working-class roots.

“I think if there’s anyone that can take away that base, that formula from Scott Brown, that can take away the regular-guy, the working-family mantra away from Scott Brown, I think it’s myself,” said Mr. Lynch, who said he would be better suited than Mr. Markey to court independent voters. “I think I offer the Democratic Party an opportunity.”

“Look, I had a pickup truck too,” he continued, referring to the vehicle that rgularly made appearances on the campaign trial with Mr. Brown. “I was an ironworker for 19 years and I know what it’s like to stand in an unemployment line.”

Mr. Markey spoke after Mr. Kerry bid farewell to the group, and he came out swinging, eliciting cheers from the crowd as he declared his support for women’s rights, gay rights and action on climate change, making a general-election-style argument that broadly pitted Democratic ideals against Republican ones.

“The Obama agenda is going to be on the table in a referendum in June in the state of Massachusetts,” Mr. Markey said, echoing a campaign theme frequently used by Ms. Warren, who often highlighted the national implications of her race against Mr. Brown. “I ask that you send a signal to the U.S.A., to Karl Rove, to the Koch Brothers.”

Mr. Marke! y has $3 ! million in campaign funds to Mr. Lynch’s $750,000, and has high-profile endorsements, while Mr. Lynch has none. He did not acknowledge Mr. Lynch by name, and made only a single, curt mention of the primary election.

“The primary, believe it or not, is in 90 days,” said Mr. Markey. “You wanna know something about the Democrats in Massachusetts They do not agonize, they organize.”

Mr. Lynch played up his underdog status at his rally earlier in the day, using his biography to present himself as both a political outsider and an committed Democrat.

“It’s uphill,” he told reporters. “If the election were held today, I would lose, I admit that, but the election’s not today. That’s what the campaign’s going to be about.”

His “everyman” message seemed to resonate with the hundreds of mostly male supporters â€" many of whom were part of some 26 unions, according to Mr. Lynch’s speech â€" who turned out for rally in South Boston, which is part of his Congressiona district.

“Down in his soul, he is a solid, blue-collar kid,” said Jim Regan, a plumber who took the train there from Braintree, Mass., and who is a registered Democrat. “I’m a blue-collar guy, and he understands my family. A guy like this going for the Senate is a win for the working man.”

Mr. Markey has his first major campaign rally planned for Saturday.