Senate hopefuls try for edge in face-off

The four, seeking to replace the late Edward M. Kennedy, drew a packed crowd to a garden party. Supporters of Attorney General Martha Coakley dominated the leafy block with giant signs, eclipsing a small poster for US Representative Michael E. Capuano, “Ask me about Alan’’ stickers for City Year cofounder Alan Khazei, and “Pags for Senate’’ buttons for Stephen Pagliuca, the co-owner of the Boston Celtics.

Each candidate spoke for a few minutes, standing on a staircase in the foyer of a Victorian home on Osborne Road, as more than 100 people crowded into the living room and the kitchen, and spilled onto the porch. Each pledged to improve the economy, health care, and public schools, and urged voters to send them to Washington to fill a seat that Kennedy had held for 47 years until his death in August.

The candidates - who will face off in a Dec. 8 primary - sought to distinguish themselves on their records, but Kennedy’s shadow loomed large.

“I’m running because, and I’m very proud to say it, even with the cameras here, I’m a liberal,’’ Capuano said to applause, his blue eyes flashing, as he stood above the crowd.

Coakley did not call herself a liberal in her speech, but she told reporters outside that she considers herself a liberal. Then she qualified it.

“I think that these labels in Massachusetts particularly don’t mean as much as they might,’’ she said. “I think you have to look at people’s records.’’

Coakley is widely considered the front-runner and has led her rivals in the polls. She declined to discuss endorsements yesterday in a news conference after her speech.

Capuano brushed aside the presence of large signs outside the house supporting Coakley, saying in a brief interview, “It doesn’t impress anybody in this room.’’

Capuano also yesterday claimed the endorsements of US Representative James McGovern, Worcester County Sheriff Guy Glodis, and five state lawmakers.

The garden party, an annual gathering sponsored by the Brookline Democratic Town Committee, opened a window into grass-roots democracy as it played out on a sleepy street in a Boston suburb filled with grand houses and progressive points of view.

Michael S. Dukakis, the former governor and a town resident, showed up in a red sweater. Potential voters chatted with candidates over soft drinks and turkey sandwiches, and television cameras milled perilously close to the homeowner’s glass slipper collection on the fireplace mantel

In their speeches, the senate hopefuls recited familiar themes that they would address, if elected, such as rising unemployment, the housing market, the environment, and public schools.

Capuano asserted that he would do a better job speaking out on the issues. In a neighborhood where antiwar bumper stickers are as common as maple trees, he reminded the room of his outspoken opposition to the Iraq war.

“This election is going to be decided by people who look in the mirror, figure it all out, and come up with the conclusion of who is in the best position to follow in the footsteps of Ted Kennedy,’’ he said. “For me, it’s about progressive values. It’s about commitment to those progressive values.’’

Coakley, who released a poll recently claiming to have 47 percent of the vote, said that the nation has ’’ great insecurity’’ about the future. She noted that President Obama invited her to Washington last week because she is one of four prosecutors nationwide who had tackled financial institutions that contributed to the economic crisis.

“We are frankly in a mess,’’ she said. “We have an economic system that is spiraling out of control. We have a health care reform debate that I’m afraid isn’t going fast enough or far enough. . . . I think we want someone who is going to tackle those problems and go after the Wall Street that created the economic situation, as well as lack of regulation in Washington.’’

Pagliuca, the managing director at Bain Capital, told his personal story as the grandson of an Italian immigrant who urged him to get an education and succeed. He said his grandfather had wanted him to be an accountant because they were the only people with good jobs during the Depression.

Now that the United States is in the worst economy since those times, he said he would fight in Washington to make sure today’s children would have the same opportunities that he did. He said it is “totally unacceptable’’ that unemployment is nearing 10 percent.

“I’m really a product of a system that I don’t know if our children will have,’’ he said, clutching a manila folder under one arm. “I will work like a dog in Washington to bring back those jobs to the country and the state.’’

Khazei, a Brookline resident and the cofounder of City Year, a nonprofit organization that some compare to a domestic Peace Corps, said he would take a “big citizenship’’ approach to Washington and emphasize public service, schools, and the economy.

He joked that his challengers were doing such good work in their own jobs, that voters should send him to Washington instead. “We need to keep those leaders where they are,’’ he said to laughter.

Whoever wins the Democratic primary goes on to run in the Jan. 19 special election.

After the event, some of those attending reflected on the speeches.

It’s going to take a little while for people to decide, said Nancy Korman, a neighbor and a former chairwoman of US Representative Barney Frank’s finance committee. “I haven’t decided yet.’’

Maria Sacchetti can be reached at msacchetti@globe.com.