Coakley
BOSTON (Legal Newsline) - Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley has a 9-percent lead in the race to become the state's next U.S. Senator, a poll released Tuesday says.
A Rasmussen Reports telephone survey shows the Democrat with a 50-41 lead over Republican Scott Brown, a Republican member of the state Senate. Voters will select the successor to the late Edward Kennedy Jan. 19.
Coakley emerged from a four-person primary election in December with 47 percent of the vote and is vying to become the state's first female senator.
Brown has served in the state Senate since 2004, and Coakley has been attorney general since 2006.
Seven percent of those polled are undecided, and the remaining 1 percent said they will vote for another candidate.
Kennedy passed away last year after 47 years in the U.S. Senate.
From Legal Newsline: Reach John O'Brien by e-mail at jobrienwv@gmail.com.