By Joshua Miller, Globe Staff

Two of the five declared Democratic candidates for the congressional seat set to be vacated by Senator-elect Edward J. Markey have proposed a pact that would attempt to limit outside spending in the US House race. State Senator Will Brownsberger and state Representative Carl Sciortino have both called for a “People’s Pledge” in the race to fill the Fifth Congressional District seat.

By Joshua Miller, Globe Staff

Middlesex County Sheriff Peter J. Koutoujian today launched his bid for the congressional seat set to be vacated by Senator-elect Edward J. Markey.

Koutoujian, a Waltham Democrat and former state representative, announced his candidacy for the Fifth Congressional District in a four minute YouTube video in which he speaks about his family’s immigrant roots and calls public service his “life’s work.”

Koutoujian, who was appointed sheriff in 2011 and was elected to the position in 2012, joins a crowded Democratic primary field for the seat. State Representative Carl M. Sciortino of Medford, and state Senators Will Brownsberger of Belmont, Katherine Clark of Melrose, and Karen Spilka of Ashland are all running to represent the heavily Democratic district that runs from Revere to Lexington to Framingham to Holliston.

By Matt Viser, Globe Staff

President Obama on Thursday praised the Supreme Court for striking down a core component of the Defense of Marriage Act and vowed to try to help same-sex couples from states such as Massachusetts whose marriages aren’t recognized in some other parts of the country.

By Bryan Bender, Globe Staff

Senator William “Mo” Cowan on Wednesday thanked his staff and the people of Massachusetts for entrusting him to represent them for five months, and said it was honor to serve in the upper chamber of as one of only eight African-Americans in the nation’s history.

But the Bay State Democrat, who was picked by Governor Deval Patrick to temporarily fill the seat vacated by Secretary of State John F. Kerry, reserved some of the greatest praise in his final floor speech for the United States Senate itself, which he insisted is working well. And Americans who think Congress is broken are simply wrong. “If I have been asked any question more frequently than “what are you going to do next, Mo” it has been “Is our system of government broken? Is Congress broken?” he said. “And I have answered truthfully: No. Our system of government is the greatest ever known and the best example of democracy in human history.”

By Michael Levenson, Globe Staff

On Wednesday, when the Supreme Court struck down the federal law that barred the recognition of same-sex unions, Julie Goodridge was the first person Hillary Goodridge called.

The two women, now divorced, were the lead plaintiffs in the 2003 Supreme Judicial Court decision that made Massachusetts the first state to legalize same-sex marriage.

“She was the first call I made,” Hillary Goodridge said in a phone interview from her home in Roslindale, “and I burst into tears. It’s very, very moving.”

“She was in tears, and it’s really exciting to be part of this,” said Julie Goodridge, speaking by phone from Provincetown, where she is on vacation. “In some ways, it happened really fast and in other ways we’re looking at the 10 year anniversary of Massachusetts decision. Historically, it feels like an incredibly short period of time.”

By Joshua Miller, Globe Staff

State Representative Carl M. Sciortino today kicked off his campaign for the congressional seat set to be vacated by Senator-elect Edward J. Markey.

The Medford Democrat, who filed paperwork for his run at the beginning of the year, is part of an already crowded field of local elected officials aiming to succeed Markey in the US House of Representatives district that runs from Revere to Framingham and Holliston.

State Senators Will Brownsberger of Belmont, Katherine Clark of Melrose, Karen Spilka of Ashland and Middlesex County Sheriff Peter J. Koutoujian of Waltham, all Democrats, also filed paperwork to run for the Fifth Congressional District seat before Markey’s victory Tuesday night.

By Joshua Miller, Globe Staff

MEDFORD -- Senator-elect Edward J. Markey, coming off what he called “a tremendous victory,” greeted constituents this morning at a local diner. Patrons in the midst of breakfast broke into loud applause as he walked in to Dempsey’s Breakfast & Lunch.

The longtime US representative, who comfortably beat Republican Gabriel E. Gomez in Tuesday’s special election, said he wasn’t sure when he would be sworn in to his new job, but aides expect him to officially become US Senator Markey after the July Fourth holiday weekend.

Despite repeated questions from gathered media outside the diner, Markey declined to discuss his plans for reelection in 2014 or politics, focusing instead on issues of policy.

By Tracy Jan, Globe Staff

U.S. Supreme Court rules on hiThe Supreme Court this morning struck down a nearly two-decades old federal law defining marriage as a union between one man and one woman, opening the doors for married gay couples to be eligible for a litany of federal benefits. toric gay marriage cases.

By Michael Levenson, Frank Phillips and Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

Veteran Democratic US Representative Edward J. Markey beat Republican businessman Gabriel E. Gomez today in a special election for US Senate in Massachusetts that was marked by its brevity and by low voter interest. Markey garnered 55 percent of the votes, compared with 45 percent for Gomez, with 99 percent of precincts reporting late this evening.

By Jim O’Sullivan, Globe Staff

Senator-elect Edward J. Markey will land in Washington with less fanfare than any Massachusetts senator elected in recent memory, a 1970s holdover who triumphed in a sleepy election with an outcome that seemed foregone nearly from the start. Even Markey’s comfortable victory margin over Republican nominee Gabriel E. Gomez will not fashion him a celebrity senator, in the mold of first Scott Brown and then Elizabeth Warren, who came to Washington with national profiles. Nor does he spark talk about someday running for national office, the way Brown and Warren and their predecessors, did. Instead, Markey is likely to operate in the Senate as he has for years in the House, focused on policy and without the marquee name recognition that Massachusetts senators have long had.

By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

Voters are headed to the polls today to cast their ballots in the US Senate special election pitting veteran Democratic US Representative Edward J. Markey and Republican businessman Gabriel E. Gomez. The compressed election, held because of the departure of John Kerry to become US secretary of state, has struggled to capture the public’s attention because of other news events in recent months, including the Boston Marathon bombings and, most recently, the Bruins’ bid for the Stanley Cup. Turnout is expected to be low on a sizzlingly hot day.

By Michael Levenson, Globe Staff

Democrat Edward J. Markey holds a 10 point lead over his Republican rival, Gabriel E. Gomez, according to a new poll released one day before voters cast ballots in the special election for US Senate in Massachusetts.

Markey, the veteran congressman, leads Gomez, an investor and former Navy SEAL, 52 percent to 42 percent among likely voters, with 4 percent undecided, according to the poll by Suffolk University in Boston. In the last Suffolk poll, released June 10, Markey led Gomez by 7 percentage points, 48 percent to 41 percent.

“These numbers suggest that tomorrow night Ed Markey will make the transformation from congressman to senator-elect,” David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center, said in a statement accompanying the new poll.

By Frank Phillips, Globe Staff

Secretary of State William F. Galvin predicted Monday that 1.6 million voters – a record low in a Massachusetts Senate race - will turnout out in Tuesday’s special US Senate election between Democrat Edward Markey and Republican Gabriel E. Gomez.

“There just hasn’t been an interest in the race,’’ Galvin told a State House press conference where he outlined his estimates.

If he is correct, the turnout will be about 600,000 less than voted in the 2010 race between Republican Scott Brown and Democrat Martha Coakley, the only other special election for Senate held in Massachusetts history.

By Joshua Miller and Jim O’Sullivan, Globe Staff

BROCKTON -- Senate candidates Gabriel E. Gomez and Edward J. Markey spent their final day on the campaign trail making frantic appeals to voters in dozens of stops from Springfield to Lawrence.

Gabriel E. Gomez, swooped into George’s Café in Brockton, encouraging diners to cast their ballots and make sure their friends, too, get out to vote.

“They’re predicting this, like, superlow turnout. I’ll tell you what: I think our side is going to turn out big,” the Cohasset Republican told the small crowd.

In Worcester, Ed Markey stopped to shake hands at the Pickle Barrel diner and said he didn’t think voters would tune out election to follow the Bruins in the Stanley Cup finals.

“I think that, in Massachusetts, there’s two things that people think about, sports and politics, and I think they do both every day.”

By Joshua Miller and Michael Levenson, Globe Staff

SPRINGFIELD – Two days before voters choose a new US Senator, the candidates crisscrossed Massachusetts today, making a final effort to rally the electorate.

Republican Senate nominee Gabriel E. Gomez rolled from the Western part of the state toward the east today, trying to motivate his supporters to vote on Tuesday, despite polls showing him lagging behind US Representative Edward J. Markey.

Gomez’s stops included a Latin bakery in Chicopee, a veteran-owned bakery in Springfield, a family-style restaurant in the conservative Springfield suburb of Agawam, and a planned rally in Boston’s North End with Mike Milbury, a former player and coach for the Boston Bruins.

Meanwhile, Markey encouraged enthusiastic supporters at a campaign office in Lynn and at a restaurant function hall in Lowell to make a big final campaign push. He exhorted supporters to make a strong get-out-the-vote effort between now and when the polls close on Tuesday in a what is expected to be a low-turnout special election.

By Joshua Miller, Globe Staff

Democrat Edward J. Markey leads Republican Gabriel E. Gomez by eight percentage points among likely voters, according to a new poll of the US Senate race released late Saturday night.

The poll found Markey leading Gomez 49 percent to 41 percent. Nine percent of those polled were either undecided or did not know.

The poll, sponsored by the Springfield Republican newspaper, MassLive.com and CBS 3 Springfield, was conducted by the Western New England University Polling Institute from June 16-20. It surveyed 566 likely voters and had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.1 percentage points.

Other public polls in recent weeks have also found Markey to be leading Gomez, but by larger margins.

By Joshua Miller, Globe Staff

Vice President Joe Biden and local Democratic leaders joined US Representative Edward J. Markey and a crowd of about 150 supporters this morning at Ironworkers Local 7 Hall on Old Colony Avenue in South Boston for the first of two rallies aimed at getting out the vote for Markey in Tuesday’s special election for US Senate. “There’s no reason why this guy shouldn’t walk to victory,” Biden said of Markey. Still, he urged the crowd to work hard until the last minute.

By Stephanie Ebbert, Globe Staff

NEWTON -- Gabriel E. Gomez launched into the final stretch before Tuesday’s election by campaigning at a Newton fun run, which he ran with his wife and a team of eight campaign volunteers. The Republican candidate for US Senate continued to push his closing argument -- that he’s asking voters to give him a chance to serve just 17 months in Washington, and that his Democratic competitor, US Representative Edward J. Markey, has had 37 years in Congress to make his case.

By Stephanie Ebbert and Michael Levenson, Globe Staff

Kicking off a final wave of campaign events, Republican US Senate candidate Gabriel E. Gomez met voters at the Swanton Street Diner today, chatting with fans who all wanted a photo with the former Navy pilot in his old flight jacket. Many of the breakfast diners were Republicans who came specifically to see Gomez and who expressed enthusiasm for his candidacy. “We need him so desperately,” said Karen Ann Martino of Sandwich. “And I think he can do it. He can reach across and fix a broken system. We need something new and different.”

By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

Don’t forget that the election is coming up Tuesday. That’s a key message driven home in US Representative Edward J. Markey’s latest ad in the special US Senate race. “Across Massachusetts, people are getting ready — ready to vote for Ed Markey for US Senate,” the narrator says in the upbeat ad full of smiling faces. “June 25th,” choruses a group of little children, holding up signs with the date on them. The date is repeated by a woman on a street of triple-deckers and a hard-hatted worker sitting in a construction vehicle.

By Jim O’Sullivan, Globe Staff

Republican Senate nominee Gabriel E. Gomez’s campaign is putting an additional $300,000 behind its latest television ad, the campaign said, claiming a new fund-raising surge in the campaign’s closing days.

By Joshua Miller, Globe Staff

Democrat Edward J. Markey leads his Republican rival, Gabriel E. Gomez, by 20 points among likely voters five days before the special US Senate, according to a new poll.

Markey leads Gomez 56 percent to 36 percent, with seven percent of respondents undecided, according to the UMass Lowell-Boston Herald poll released this evening.

Among the broader group of registered Massachusetts voters, Markey leads by 21 percentage points, 53 percent to 32 percent, according to the poll.

By Michael Levenson, Globe Staff

Hillary Clinton --- the subject of incessant speculation about a potential presidential run in 2016 – made a quick, low-profile visit to Boston on Wednesday.

The former secretary of state was in town for a speaking engagement, and had a discreet dinner with Mayor Thomas M. Menino at Hamersley’s Bistro in the South End.

The two have some shared history: Menino endorsed Clinton over Barack Obama in the 2008 Democratic primary.

By Stephanie Ebbert, Globe Staff

Democratic US Senate candidate Edward J. Markey greeted voters in New Bedford Thursday, shaking hands with patrons in downtown restaurants with Mayor Jon Mitchell, but fielding some criticism for not having visited more often.

“He hasn’t campaigned on the whole South Coast,” Jo-Ann Ferreira complained. Ferreira is a Democrat who is supporting Markey nonetheless. Having heard that Markey was coming on Thursday, she came to City Hall to ask him questions but she couldn’t stay; he was running too late.

“I think he thinks it’s a given that people will vote for him. He’s not generating enough confidence in the people of the South Coast area,” said Ferreira. “We need to hear him speaking to us. We need to hear it from him.”

By Noah Bierman, Globe Staff

Senator Elizabeth Warren was among four senators to oppose Michael Froman’s nomination as US Trade Representative on Wednesday. Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, had been seeking a transparency pledge from Froman, whose confirmation was nonetheless approved on a 93 to 4 vote.

On the Senate floor, Warren said that she has been concerned over ongoing negotiations over an agreement called the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

By Joshua Miller, Globe Staff

A laidback Gabriel E. Gomez took to the campaign trail today on the South Shore sporting New Balance sneakers and a bullish outlook on the election five days from now.

“I couldn’t be more thrilled about where we are. I know that our enthusiasm is high,” the former Navy SEAL said before running the more than three miles to the VFW post in his home town of Cohasset.

A few supporters trailed Gomez as he ran along Route 3A and side streets. A Boston Globe reporter also ran with Gomez on his jog. The private equity investor, who added frequent runs to his campaign schedule with races including the Boston Marathon, said that fitness is an essential part of his life.

By James O’Sullivan, Globe Staff

Senator Scott P. Brown, largely absent from the Senate campaign trail after deciding not to run himself, will appear an election-eve really for Republican nominee Gabriel E. Gomez, a top Gomez campaign official said Thursday.

The rally, on Monday night in Quincy, will be the GOP pair’s first joint public appearance, though Brown has helped Gomez raise money.

By Jim O’Sullivan, Globe Staff

Requests for absentee ballots in next Tuesday’s special US Senate election have slid 22 percent from the January 2010 special election, Secretary of State William F. Galvin said Thursday. Galvin’s office said he was “extremely concerned” about the level of voter participation in the race between Democratic nominee Edward J. Markey and Republican Gabriel E. Gomez. As of Thursday, 49,748 voters had filed for absentee ballots, down from 63,610 the week before the 2010 election between Scott P. Brown and Attorney General Martha Coakley. Galvin said that other high-profile news stories and the onset of summer had likely crowded out the state’s top political story.

By Joshua Miller, Globe Staff

US Senate hopeful Gabriel E. Gomez, coming off what his campaign saw as a successful debate performance, is set to launch a new television ad Thursday morning in which he repeatedly mentions his opponent’s long tenure in the US House of Representatives and asks voters to give him a shot at serving out the remainder of John F. Kerry’s Senate term.

In footage taken from Tuesday night’s televised debate, Gomez makes the case, backed by upbeat music, that US Representative Edward J. Markey, a Malden Democrat who was first elected to Congress in 1976, has not achieved legislative success on a number of issues.

The spot includes Gomez mentioning the number of years Markey had served in Congress three seperate times.

By Jim O’Sullivan, Globe Staff

Vice President Joe Biden will campaign for Democratic Senate nominee Edward J. Markey in South Boston and Dartmouth on Saturday, according to a White House official. Democratic sources said on Wednesday that Biden was scheduled to visit the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth and the Local 7 Ironworkers Hall in South Boston, which was a center of operations for Markey primary opponent US Representative Stephen F. Lynch.

By Joshua Miller, Globe Staff

US Senate hopeful Gabriel E. Gomez attended a Boston fundraiser this afternoon, imploring about 30 donors there to talk to their friends and get out the vote, saying victory was possible with their help.

“We are now, literally, within reach of winning this election on June 25,” he said to applause.

Meanwhile, six days out from the election, Democrat Edward J. Markey did not have a single public campaign event. His campaign said he was doing private media interviews and holding a fundraiser and would schedule a public event later today.

Markey spokesman Mark Horan said the congressman has a “very vigorous campaign day,” but by 2:45 pm, his schedule had not been updated.

By Jim O’Sullivan, Globe Staff

With only a week left before voters go to the polls, the two candidates for US Senate let loose tonight with their full arsenals in a heated third and final debate, driving home arguments that have resonated throughout the compressed special election calendar. Democratic nominee Edward J. Markey repeatedly pushed Republican nominee Gabriel E. Gomez on gun control, while Gomez swatted at Markey for being an entrenched member of Congress who has consistently backed higher taxes.

By Joshua Miller, Globe Staff

Dr. Donald M. Berwick, a former Obama administration official, today announced he is running for governor in 2014. “As a doctor, an educator, an innovator and someone who has dedicated his professional career to making things work better and to helping people – I am ready to lead,” the Newton Democrat said in a statement announcing his candidacy. Berwick, a pediatrician, former Harvard faculty member, and a former administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, has been exploring a run in recent months.

By Jim O’Sullivan, Globe Staff

Welfare applicants would need to prove they have searched for employment before receiving cash benefits, under legislation that Senate leaders unveiled Monday morning.

The bill, which comes in the wake of widespread reports of fraud and abuse, would prod welfare seekers to find jobs through a state-run program before applying for benefits. That provision is designed to encourage unemployed people who would otherwise seek public assistance as a first option instead to test the job market.

“The system has been stagnant for a long time,” said Senate President Therese Murray at a State House press conference. “And we want to shake up the system, and give people some hope, too.”

The Senate will take up the bill on Thursday, Murray said, break-neck speed for Beacon Hill legislation.

By Jim O’Sullivan, Globe Staff

Former President Bill Clinton hits Worcester on Saturday for Democratic Senate nominee Edward J. Markey, the latest chapter in the warm tale of the central Massachusetts city and the 42nd commander-in-chief.

Call it a love affair, of the municipal variety.

It was Worcester where Clinton on August 27, 1998 chose to emerge from the bunker into which he had climbed after acknowledging on national television a relationship with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky that was “not appropriate.” Clinton had been vacationing on Martha’s Vineyard, confined mostly to private interactions with wealthy vacation home owners, and in the doghouse with then-First Lady Hillary Clinton.

At the invitation of US Representative James P. McGovern, a Worcester Democrat, Clinton came to the City of the Seven Hills, ostensibly to tout a school safety program, but in reality to gingerly dip a scandal-plagued toe back into the political waters.

By Jim O’Sullivan, Globe Staff

Leveraging his 37-year incumbency and a healthy fundraising operation, Democratic Senate nominee Edward J. Markey outspent Republican rival Gabriel E. Gomez by nearly $4 million in a nine-week period heading into the final stretch of their special election.

Markey claimed $4.6 million in his account on April 10, three weeks before winning the Democratic primary, according to Federal Election Commission records. Between that date and June 5, Markey took in $2.9 million in contributions, and spent $5.9 million, finishing the reporting period with $2.3 million.

By Jim O’Sullivan, Globe Staff

Senate Democratic nominee Edward J. Markey’s new campaign advertisement is less about Markey himself than it is about President Obama, a televised distillation of the heavy infrastructural advantage Markey enjoys over Republican nominee Gabriel E. Gomez. In fact, Markey’s only speaking role in the 30-second spot, which is entitled “Folks” and begins airing today, is to deliver the boilerplate tagline stating his approval of the message. Obama, shown at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center podium where he campaigned for Markey on Wednesday, enthuses, “Ed has been a champion for middle-class families and small businesses. He’s stood up for common-sense laws to keep our children safe from gun violence. I’ve got to have folks with me who care as passionately about these things as I do. That’s who Ed Markey is. I need Ed Markey in the United States Senate.”

By Jim O’Sullivan, Globe Staff

As national Democrats have opened their wallets to support Senate nominee Edward J. Markey, GOP rival Gabriel E. Gomez’s campaign has longed for such assistance from the Republican party.

Meanwhile, the GOP figure perhaps most popular in Massachusetts, former Senator Scott P. Brown, has been largely off-stage. Brown, who opted earlier this year against seeking the seat himself, has not lent Gomez’s campaign the star wattage that accrues a former US senator who three years ago pulled off a historic upset.

On Thursday, Brown said he had contributed to Gomez’s campaign, assisted with fundraising, and already voted absentee for Gomez, in anticipation of spending Election Day in his role as a FOX NEWS contributor.

By Michael Levenson and Jim O’Sullivan, Globe Staff

The Massachusetts political establishment honored the life of former governor Argeo Paul Cellucci today in a memorial at the State House. The casket carrying the former governor processed into the State House shortly past noon, past a string of dignitaries that included Governor Deval Patrick and former governors Mitt Romney, Jane Swift, Michael Dukakis, and Cellucci’s friend and political partner, former governor William F. Weld.

By Jim O’Sullivan, Globe Staff

Vice President Joe Biden will visit the Brockton area next week on behalf of US Representative Edward J. Markey, the Democratic Senate nominee told state lawmakers on Thursday, according to several people in the room. In a meeting with dozens of Democratic legislators at a Boston hotel before a State House ceremony honoring the late governor Argeo Paul Cellucci, Markey said that this weekend’s campaign stop in Worcester by former President Bill Clinton would be followed by a vice-presidential visit. Biden would be the fourth major national Democrat in less than a month to come to Markey’s aid in his special Senate election campaign against private equity investor and former Navy SEAL Gabriel E. Gomez. Michelle Obama came to Boston last month and President Obama rallied a Roxbury Crossing crowd on Wednesday.

By Joshua Miller, Globe Staff

A new political group called Americans for Progressive Action is set to soon launch more than $558,000 in television ads in support of Republican US Senate hopeful Gabriel E. Gomez, according to Democratic and Republican sources.

By Joshua Miller, Globe Staff

President Obama exhorted a crowd of thousands to support US Senate hopeful Edward J. Markey, who Obama said, would “carry on the legacy of John Kerry and Ted Kennedy” and “be my partner.”

At the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center in Roxbury, Obama told a fired-up crowd that he needed Markey to help accomplish his agenda.

“I’ve got to have folks in the United States Senate who are willing to stand up for working people just like I am,” he said to cheers and applause. “I need Ed Markey in the United States Senate!”

Obama reminded the audience to achieve that result, he needed them to head to the polls on June 25 and encourage their friends, family, and neighbors to do the same.

By Michael Levenson, Globe Staff

Former president Bill Clinton will campaign for Senate candidate Edward J. Markey in Worcester on Saturday, the latest big-name Democrat to hit the trail in the closely fought Massachusetts Senate race. Clinton’s visit was confirmed today by a Democratic official with direct knowledge of the stop. The former president will try to boost Markey less than a week after President Obama rallied thousands of Markey supporters at the Reggie Lewis track in Roxbury on Tuesday.

By Jim O’Sullivan and Michael Levenson, Globe Staff

President Obama got his burger fix today at a familiar South End haunt -- Charlie’s Sandwich Shoppe on Columbus Avenue. The president, sans jacket, ordered a cheeseburger with lettuce, tomato, mustard, and french fries, to go, and left a $20 bill on the $8 tab, according to Charlie’s staff.

By Michael Levenson, Globe Staff

Republican Senate candidate Gabriel E. Gomez is trying to use a dose of humor to deflect Democratic criticism of his positions on health care and taxes.

In a new television ad, Gomez shows images from an attack ad recently launched by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Comittee, a group backing Representative Edward J. Markey, as an announcer declares in a theatrical voice that, “Gabriel Gomez is a very bad man. He kills old people. He hates women. He even leaves the toilet seat up.”

By Matt Viser, Globe Staff

Vice President Joe Biden, at a fundraiser in Washington tonight for Representative Ed Markey, was highly critical of the Republican Party – saying it had become beholden to two freshman senators – even as he praised Markey and implored supporters not to take the Massachusetts election for granted. The fundraiser, held at a private home in an expensive neighborhood in Washington, was also headlined by former Vice President Al Gore and Vicki Kennedy, the widow of the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy. Biden urged some 200 attendees not to assume Markey will win, saying “this is a strange moment” and that, without the president at the top of the ticket, minority turnout in Massachusetts might be low.

By Jim O’Sullivan, Globe Staff

It’s the Struggle of Springfield, the War for the West, the Battle in the Birthplace of Basketball.

When Republican Gabriel E. Gomez and Democrat Edward J. Markey face off tonight in the second debate of their US Senate campaign, much of the focus -- both discussion topics and audience demographics -- will lie in the western part of the state.

The further west you go on the Massachusetts Turnpike, the more the state’s Boston-centric political structure’s attention tends to dissipate.

But tonight, exactly two weeks before voters choose a successor to John F. Kerry, Gomez and Markey will have to compete for those votes.

The debate will be broadcast from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. on WGBY-TV, CBS 3 Springfield, ABC-40/FOX-6 and NBC-22, and air on New England Public Radio, 88.5 FM. MassLive.com will livestream the debate.

By Joshua Miller, Globe Staff

A new poll of likely voters released this morning found Democrat Edward J. Markey leading Republican Gabriel E. Gomez by 7 points in the race for US Senate. That’s the same margin as a poll released Monday.

The new WBUR poll, conducted by the MassINC Polling Group, found Markey took 46 percent to Gomez’s 39 percent, with 11 percent undecided. The margin of error was plus or minus 4.4 percent.

By Joshua Miller, Globe Staff

A new poll of likely voters released Monday found Democrat Edward J. Markey leading Republican Gabriel E. Gomez by seven percentage points, just over two weeks before Massachusetts voters choose their next US senator. The Suffolk University poll found Markey ahead 48 percent to Gomez’s 41 percent, with 10 percent of respondents still undecided. The margin of error was plus or minus 4.4 percent. The race appears to have tightened substantially since early May, when a Suffolk University/7 News poll found Markey had a 17-point lead over Gomez.

By Jim O’Sullivan, Globe Staff

The genuine affection from Democrats poured out since Argeo Paul Cellucci’s death, and the sincere expressions of empathy during his long illness, strike at the unique role the former governor plays in the state’s political history. Cellucci, who died Saturday after a long battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, was more than just the last Bay State native elected to the office, or the only Beacon Hill figure in the last quarter-century to work his way through the State House to win the electorate’s appointment to the top job. While Massachusetts, and states generally, lag the national political climate in partisan acrimony, Cellucci nonetheless stands out, for various reasons, as the last chief executive who could reasonably be considered a bipartisan figure.