< Back to front page Text size – +

Pagliuca touts Celtics turnaround in Senate campaign ad

E-mail|Link|Comments () October 7, 2009 11:50 AM

By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

Celtics co-owner Steve Pagliuca released his third commercial in the race for the US Senate today, a feel-good spot with upbeat rock guitar chiming in the background, aerial shots of Boston and the Bay State coastline, a vintage shot of the Kennedy brothers, and footage of Celtics star Paul Pierce hoisting the NBA championship trophy.

"I'm proud I played a small part in turning the Celtics around – and even prouder to lead organizations that help turn around families and fight for kids who have been left behind," Pagliuca says in the spot.

Pagliuca, who is emphasizing his business experience in the race, also says, "I've helped struggling people and companies get back on their feet and back in the game."

The ad, titled "Never Give Up," follows two plain vanilla ads that featured Pagliuca alone and speaking earnestly into the camera.

The black-and-white picture of young John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Edward M. Kennedy appears on the screen as Pagliuca says, "Progressive values start here. We carry the torch and we carry it forward."

Pagliuca is one of four Democrats campaigning to win the seat left vacant by the death of Edward M. Kennedy, the liberal lion who represented the state for 47 years in the Senate.

He faces Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley, US Representative Michael Capuano, and City Year co-founder Alan Khazei. On the Republican side, state Senator Scott Brown is the most prominent candidate.

The Coakley campaign released a poll today that it said showed Coakley with a wide lead in the four-way race among the Democratic candidates. The campaign's pollsters found that Coakley would garner 47 percent of the vote, Capuano 12 percent, Pagliuca 4 percent, and Khazei 1 percent.

But Pagliuca, a self-made multi-millionaire, has the option of pumping millions of dollars into the race, a tactic that has worked for other wealthy Senate candidates.