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Brown wins big in Canton
By Cathy Anderson
Citizen Staff
In what will
no doubt be an election that will go down in the history books,
Republican state Representative Scott Brown overwhelmingly
defeated his Democratic challenger, state Attorney General
Martha Coakley, in Tuesday’s highly contentious and pivotal race
to succeed the late Senator Ted Kennedy in the U.S. Senate.
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Bud Jennings and Karen Taylor of
Canton show their support for Scott Brown Tuesday at the Kennedy
School. Kathy Anderson Photo
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Canton voters
cast 60 percent of their votes for Brown and 39 percent for
Coakley, with Brown winning big in all six of the town’s voting
precincts. State wide, Brown won by a margin of 51.9 percent to
Coakley’s 47.1 percent.
Voter turnout
in Canton was higher than in the past several years for a state
election, with 67 percent of the town’s 14,395 registered voters
casting ballots on Tuesday.
“The turnout
so far has been comparable to what we see in a presidential
election,” one poll worker at the Kennedy School said Tuesday
afternoon.
While
Massachusetts has traditionally been a dominantly Democratic
state, underdog Brown came from behind in what many people
initially predicted would be a landslide victory for Coakley. In
the past two weeks, Brown tipped the scales and the outcome
became too close to predict.
Numerous
supporters for both Coakley and Brown braved the cold
temperature and light snow Tuesday in each of Canton’s four
voting locations.
“I am
supporting Scott Brown because we need genuine change from the
socialist turn this country has taken,” said Bud Jennings
outside the Kennedy School. “He will be a breath of fresh air in
Washington.”
Mike Logan of
the Canton Democratic Town Committee was campaigning for Coakley
at the Luce School. “Martha shows a direct leadership for the
country and she’s done a great job as Attorney General,” he
said. “I think she’ll show the same leadership role in the U.S.
Senate.”
“I’ve been a
member of the Canton Republican Town Committee for several
years,” said Karen Taylor, who was holding a Brown sign at the
Kennedy School. “We haven’t had a Republican in the Senate for a
long time and we need a different voice. Scott will look at the
issues from a different perspective.”
Bill Gorman
stood in front of a Coakley sign, waving at voters at the
Kennedy School. “I like what Martha’s done as attorney general,”
he said. “I think she’ll follow what Ted Kennedy has been
working on with the health care bill and be a stronger voice in
the Senate than Brown. She has the track record.”
Despite the
recent profusion of advertising by Coakley and Brown,
Independent candidate Joseph Kennedy received one percent of the
votes in Canton.
“I’m very
pleased with the voter turnout,” Town Clerk Tracy Kenney said.
“Sixty-seven percent is terrific and I am very happy with that.
I would have been happy with 40 percent, so this was great.”
January 21, 2010
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