Coakley coasts to face Republican in AG race
Middlesex District Attorney Martha Coakley advanced in her bid to replace Thomas F. Reilly as the state's attorney general. She ran unopposed in the Democratic primary and will now face Republican Lawrence Frisoli , a Cambridge lawyer and one-term city councilor.
``I'm confident that with my record . . . that we'll be a success in November," she said on election night. ``I want the office and I want to do it well."
Coakley's office has recently handled a string of high-profile prosecutions, including the doublemurder case against British national Neil Entwistle.
If she wins in November, she will inherit the ongoing criminal probe into the Big Dig following Milena Del Valle's death in the Interstate 90 connector tunnel in July.
Challenge to Lynch hits a rock-solid wall
US Representative Stephen F. Lynch floated to victory in the Ninth Congressional District's Democratic primary, despite his opponent's attempt to cast the election as a referendum on Lynch's early support for the war in Iraq.
Lynch, a former ironworker, will now face perennial GOP candidate Jack E. Robinson, who is moving to Brockton. Lynch captured 77 percent of the vote, with all precincts reporting.
``I'm very proud to have that mandate," said Lynch. ``We worked very hard."
Lynch had bested his opponent, Philip Dunkelbarger, even in Dunkelbarger's hometown of Westwood by 362 votes.
Lynch, of South Boston, has called his 2002 vote authorizing the Iraq invasion a mistake, saying he was misle d into believing that Saddam Hussein was an imminent threat. He introduced a bill in June that would hasten the transfer of power to the Iraqi government.
For Galvin, affirmation arrives in a landslide
Seeking a fourth term as secretary of state, William F. Galvin handily beat his Democratic opponent, John Bonifaz, in a lopsided race in which the incumbent garnered some 83 percent of the vote, with 96 percent of precincts reporting.
``I'm quite pleased with the overwhelming margin," said Galvin, who in addition to running for office was supervising the statewide voting system yesterday.
After three terms in office for Galvin, a lawyer and former state representative, Bonifaz's challenge to his tenure was somewhat unexpected. Bonifaz is the founder of the National Voting Rights Institute, a nonprofit that seeks to change the national electoral system, and the author of ``Warrior-King: The Case for Impeaching George W. Bush." Galvin raised $1.8 million to fend off Bonifaz.
In recent years, Galvin, as the state's chief election officer, has gotten rid of punch-card voting and implemented a central voter registry.
Republicans compete to joust with Kennedy
Kevin P. Scott and Kenneth G. Chase yesterday ran in the GOP primary race for US Senate to determine who will face longtime US Senator Edward M. Kennedy , a liberal icon seeking his eighth term.
With 95 percent of precincts reporting, Chase had 51 percent of the tally -- a slim 1,215-vote lead over Scott.
The two GOP contenders combined barely raised an eighth of the $8.5 million that Kennedy, who ran unopposed in the Democratic primary, has managed to stockpile in his political war chest. Of late, Kennedy has been among the most prominent critics of the war in Iraq, while leading the liberal wing of the Democratic Party on Social Security, immigration reform, and minimum wage legislation.
Chase, 44, who lives with his wife and two children in Belmont, has run for office three times. He owns the French and Spanish Saturday School, an after-school program with several locations in Massachusetts. Scott, a 43-year-old neophyte in the statewide political arena, has served as selectman and public works board member in his hometown of Wakefield. He owns a high-technology job placement company.
RAJA MISHRA 
