First Lady Michelle Obama spent the day stumping for Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) in his bid to fill John Kerry’s empty Senate seat.
The election is less than a month away — June 25 — and Democrats, pulling out the big guns, seem to still be stunned by Scott Brown’s victory to fill Ted Kennedy’s seat. Republican Gabriel Gomez has employed some of Mitt Romney’s old campaign team to lead his effort. The Real Clear Politics polling average has Markey ahead by 10 points.
Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Mo Cowan (D-Mass.), who was appointed to take Kerry’s place until the special election, were among the guests in the packed Taj Boston hotel ballroom to nosh on Chilean sea bass and cough up campaign dough.
“We must recapture that same passion, the same energy and urgency that we felt back in 2008 and 2012. We must keep working together to build a country worthy of all of our children’s promise. That’s what we must do today,” Obama said. “…My husband can’t do it alone. He absolutely needs folks like Ed Markey in the Senate to make it happen. Absolutely.”
“So here in the state of Massachusetts, we need you to do everything you can over these next four weeks to get Ed Markey elected. And it’s all on you this time. No one else can make this happen but you. But that’s a beautiful, promising thing,” the first lady continued. “So we need you to do all you can. Keep on writing those checks. And if you haven’t maxed out, max out. And get your friends to max out. We got a few more weeks. Get the money in.”
With a hint to Brown, Obama added “we all know what happens with special elections when we don’t do that work.”
“So you need to get out there and shake them up, get their focus. And when you come across folks who think that special elections don’t matter, please remind them of what exactly is at stake when we talk about sending Ed Markey to the Senate. Remind them about the difference that just a few votes can make in our Congress,” she said. “…There’s that common-sense gun bill that I talked about earlier. As you know that bill failed. And you know by how many votes? Failed by just six votes — six votes. So this election isn’t just about one seat in the U.S. Senate; this election is about every single issue we care about.”
A Markey aide told the White House pool that the event raised “at least” $600,000.
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