In Boston race, an ageless truth: senior voters key

At lunchtime yesterday, Mayor Thomas M. Menino and his challenger, Councilor at Large Michael F. Flaherty Jr., competed with Wally the Green Monster and Buzz Lightyear for the attention of 320 senior citizens dressed as pirates, witches, and disco queens.

Menino doled out platefuls of spaghetti and meatballs and raffled off a $10 gift certificate to Stop & Shop and a day at the Suffolk Downs racetrack. Flaherty shook and shimmied his way across the dance floor, rocking out to “Celebration’’ by Kool & The Gang, while aides handed out pink carnations.

“Seniors are what you call supervoters,’’ said Flaherty, who at tended four senior events yesterday, escorted to several by his favorite senior, his 74-year-old mother, Peggy. “They don’t miss an election.’’

The closing days of the mayor’s race have been all about seniors. For all the talk about energizing young people with Twitter and Facebook, the candidates are returning to the tried and true: lavishing attention on elderly voters. Senior citizens are expected to exert an outsize influence on a low-turnout Election Day on Tuesday.

“They pay attention, they vote, and they do a good job getting out,’’ said Menino, a 66-year-old grandfather whose Commission on Affairs of the Elderly sponsored the Halloween party in Charlestown yesterday. “They turn out in higher proportion than other voters.’’

Senior citizens at the Halloween party spoke with pride about their perfect voting records, describing participation in elections as a duty instilled in them by immigrant parents or the hardships of the Great Depression.

“If you don’t vote, you have no right to complain,’’ said Rose Lyman, 93. “And I never miss a vote.’’

Roseanne Sheehan, 65, said she hasn’t missed an election since she turned 21. “Never ever,’’ she said, “and that includes primaries and everything.’’

Given such dedication, it is no wonder the candidates’ schedules were packed with visits to retirement homes and elderly housing complexes this week - sometimes three or four a day. Both campaigns have rented fleets of vans and cars to ferry senior citizens to the polls Tuesday. And many buildings where seniors live will serve as polling locations, making it even easier for them to vote.

“Come hell or high water, they’re going to vote,’’ said Lawrence S. DiCara, a former City Council president and longtime observer of Boston politics, who estimates that half of the projected 100,000 people who vote on Tuesday will be over 60. “They’re very important, and that’s why elected officials spend an inordinate amount of time courting seniors.’’

Speaking to seniors, the candidates deliver their stump speeches. Then they add special touches. Menino yesterday offered assistance from the elderly commission to any senior who feels lonely, while Flaherty pledged to pay close attention to fixing sidewalks and plowing snow to make the city more accessible to those in wheelchairs.

“We’re very respectful of our seniors, those who have paid their dues,’’ Flaherty told seniors yesterday.

But Menino clearly has the upper hand. The Halloween party at the Knights of Columbus was a city-sponsored affair, which Menino has hosted for five years in a row. The mayor’s name was prominently displayed on two banners and in the elderly commission’s magazine, a stack of which was placed at the door. When he walked into the room, the deejay cranked “Electric Boogie’’ and announced, to cheers and applause, “Ladies and gentlemen, the mayor of Boston just came in the door! Mayor Thomas M. Menino is right here!’’

Flaherty had planned to spend the day making smaller-scale campaign visits to senior homes, but decided to crash the mayor’s party, as well. The longtime city councilor’s arrival was not acknowledged by the deejay, although the mayor later introduced Flaherty as “my friend.’’

Flaherty worked the hall, going table to table before hitting the dance floor with 100 seniors. When Menino stopped serving food to address the crowd, Flaherty seized the opportunity to grab a stack of plastic plates and dish out the spaghetti and meatballs. And when Menino called the raffle, telling seniors to check their blue tickets, Flaherty didn’t miss a beat.

“Blue tickets, everybody!’’ Flaherty said.

Menino on Thursday attended another city-sponsored luncheon for 100 seniors in the South End that featured ziti and meatballs and a deejay playing Dean Martin. Flaherty has organized smaller events at senior buildings, spartan affairs that feature banana bread and coffee.

In the community room of a residence for seniors in Jamaica Plain yesterday, nine people showed up to meet Flaherty. The candidate crooned “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,’’ while Councilor at Large Sam Yoon, his prospective deputy mayor, played an out-of-tune piano.

“We can’t get fancy, because we don’t have the money,’’ Peggy Flaherty said.

A spry, silver-haired grandmother, she has become an ambassador to seniors for Flaherty, who, at age 40, has often promoted his candidacy as a muchneeded generational shift. Yesterday, the Flaherty campaign mailed seniors a letter that the candidate’s mother had signed, emphasizing his deference to seniors.

“Even though Michael may not have always enjoyed listening to my motherly advice as a kid,’’ she wrote, “I am so proud that he has dedicated his life to listening to the concerns and ideas of our residents - particularly our city’s seniors.’’

Michael Levenson can be reached at mlevenson@globe.com.