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Coakley campaign unveils first TV ad

E-mail|Link|Comments () January 6, 2010 03:51 PM

By Globe Staff

Attorney General Martha Coakley plans to begin airing her first television ad of the general election for US Senate, a spot in which she highlights her record as the state's top law enforcer and promises to "stand up" for Massachusetts families, her campaign said today.

Coakley, a Medford Democrat, is running against Republican state Senator Scott Brown in the Jan. 19 election, which will fill the seat left vacant by the death last year of long-time US Senator Edward M. Kennedy. Independent Joseph L. Kennedy is also in the race.

Coakley ran television ads during the four-way primary campaign, but the 30-second ad titled "Stand Up," which will hit the airwaves Thursday, is her first for the final election.

"Parents struggling to make ends meet, children, seniors, the people hit hardest by this economy, deserve a senator who will work hard for them as I've done as your attorney general," she says, then notes her work "cracking down on corporate greed, shutting down scammers who rip off seniors, putting sex predators behind bars."

"It's not what you say that matters, it's who you stand up for," Coakley says. "I approve this message because you deserve a senator who will stand up for Massachusetts families."

The ad comes just a day after an independent poll showed Brown within 9 percentage points of Coakley, a surprise finding in a Democratic-leaning state. There is no mention of Brown in the ad.

In a statement issued by his campaign, Brown said it was "striking that Martha Coakley would tout her record ‘standing up’ for middle-class Massachusetts families."

He said Coakley had taken campaign cash from lobbyists "and it’s a fair question to ask what she has promised them in return."

“Unlike Martha Coakley, I am not in the pocket of these special interest groups, and I pledge to fight only for the priorities and interests of Massachusetts voters in the United States Senate, regardless of what the lobbyists and lawyers might think," Brown said.