Kennedy's rival lauds Minutemen

The Republican challenging 44-year incumbent Senator Edward M. Kennedy spent much of last week in the desert, some 3,000 miles southwest of Massachusetts, watching the US border with Mexico for undocumented immigrants. On one day, Kenneth G. Chase spent almost six hours in a lawn chair in the shadow of a mesquite tree, scanning the horizon with three Minutemen, a civilian border patrol corps.

``Literally, we sat out there in the baking sun trying to find shade," said Chase, of Belmont, who was stationed near Sasabe, Ariz., with volunteers from Washington State, New York, and Minnesota. ``These are great people. They are patriotic people. I think this whole nation owes a debt of gratitude to the Minutemen."

He is trying to make an issue of a Kennedy immigration bill that passed the Senate in May that aims to protect the border and provide a legal path for workers who already are in the country. Chase has accused the senator of trying to ``pad" Democratic voter rolls with ``illegal immigrants."

``Ted Kennedy couldn't hold a candle to me when it comes to immigration," he said.

Chase runs a language school in Belmont that teaches children French and Spanish. His mother emigrated from Canada, and his wife came to the United States from Spain. They waited their turn and passed through legal channels, Chase said, and he called it ``insulting" to new immigrants to ask them to do anything less.

``We feel very good about Mr. Chase," said Paul Goedinghaus, president of the Alamo Alliance, a group working for stricter enforcement of immigration laws. Goedinghaus, who lives in Los Angeles, took Chase on a tour of the border near San Diego.

``If Mr. Chase is going to represent the American people in the Senate, he has to know what is happening on the border," Goedinghaus said.

ANDREW RYAN

Gay groups rally for Patrick

Gay organizations are rallying this week to raise money for Deval L. Patrick, who is popular in the gay community because of his support for gay marriage.

Suggested donations for the fund-raiser, to be held at the Westin Copley Place hotel , are $100, $250, and $500 . Add a zero to each of those numbers, and you get a small reception before the main event. A week before the fund-raiser, 69 donors had contributed more than $24,000 online through Patrick's website.

Hosts include US Representative Barney Frank , former state senator Cheryl Jacques , Mary Bonauto of legal rights group Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders , Rob Henry of Freedom to Marry Coalition of Massachusetts, Marc Solomon of same-sex marriage defender group MassEquality , and Tom Lang and Aaron Toleos , directors of KnowThyNeighbor.org, which says it promotes dialogue on marriage equality in Massachusetts .

This is the first gubernatorial election since gay marriage became legal in Massachusetts. Republican Kerry Healey wants to ban gay marriage and establish civil unions instead. She also supports the 1913 law prohibiting gay couples from other states that explicitly ban gay marriage from marrying in Massachusetts, while Patrick wants to repeal it.

A Globe poll published last Sunday suggests that on this issue, Patrick's position was more popular than Healey's (48 percent supported a repeal and 37 percent opposed it ).

In interviews last month, leaders of several gay organizations said they will mail and phone their members intensively as Election Day draws near, but they do not expect the issue to take center stage.

``Even those who aren't personally supportive of same-sex marriage feel like it's time to move on . . . enough already," said Arline Isaacson , cochairwoman of the Massachusetts Gay & Lesbian Political Caucus .

LISA WANGSNESS

Healey shelled out nearly $2.5m for TV ads

Republican Kerry Healey spent almost $2.5 million on television ads in September on her run for governor, fueled in large part by a $3 million donation the lieutenant governor made to her own campaign.

Democratic nominee Deval Patrick had a $2.1 million ad blitz of his own last month, including $200,000 from his campaign and $400,000 that the state Democratic Party spent after his sweeping victory in the primary on Sept. 19.

The two major party candidates spent almost $2 million on television in the final 10 days of the month after the primary, according to campaign staff and records filed with the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance.

The campaign of independent Christy Mihos reported spending more than $550,000 on television in September. Grace Ross, the Green-Rainbow nominee, spent nothing.

On Sept. 20, two days after writing herself a $3 million check, Healey's campaign wired more than $1.3 million for a media buy, bringing her total for the month to just under $2.5 million, records show.

That same day, the state Democratic Party wired $400,000 on behalf of Patrick for television time to help him stay on the air after a costly primary. Patrick's campaign had an ad up and running by Sept. 21, according to senior campaign adviser Doug Rubin.

ANDREW RYAN

Mass. primaries got good turnout

The turnout for the Sept. 19 primary in Massachusetts was the third-highest in the nation among states that held primaries this year, according to a new study. The Center for the Study of the American Electorate said the highest turnout in a Democratic primary came in the District of Columbia, followed by Hawaii (26.9 percent turnout) and Massachusetts (20.2 percent ). Secretary of State William F. Galvin's office said that in the Democratic primary there were 926,372 voters.