At least for her, Jaboin said, the President’s visit had the desired effect.
“You can’t see him and not be energized,” she said of Obama. “The link between [Obama] and congressman Markey, it’s heartwarming to see that.”
Dan Payne, a Democratic strategist who has worked with Markey, also said that memories from 2010 have created a sense of urgency among Democrats.
“The Coakley debacle...energizes Democrats, reminds them that you can’t take Massachusetts for granted,” Payne said in a phone interview. In 2010, he said, Massachusetts voters might have been frustrated with a slow economy and a future made uncertain by the new Affordable Care Act, Obama’s landmark healthcare law. But since then, Payne said, things have looked up as the state has seen its economy improve faster than the that of the broader nation.
“I’ve talked to a couple of pollsters...they say there was a lot of anger in Massachusetts when Coakley ran against Brown, and [voters] took it out on Coakley,” Payne said. “Now, [voters] generally feel that incumbents are doing as good a job as they can.”
For his part, Payne pegged Markey as the favorite by a larger margin than some recent polls, estimating that his lead over Gomez stood between 7 and 10 points.
—Staff writer Matthew Q. Clarida can be reached at clarida@college.harvard.edu. Follow him on Twitter @MattClarida.