Coakley, Democrats make appeals to party’s loyal base

Gubernatorial candidates Martha Coakley and Charlie Baker pause for a moment of prayer before a Greater Boston Interfaith Organization forum at the Fourth Presbyterian Church in South Boston. Also pictured are Rev. Burns Stanfield and Suzan El Rayess. (Banner photo)

Democrats in Massachusetts are pulling out all the stops in Attorney General Martha Coakley’s bid for the governor’s office. She’s received endorsements from black and Latino elected officials from New Bedford to Lawrence.

Last week, Coakley shared the stage with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the Park Plaza Hotel, rallied labor supporters with Mayor Martin Walsh at the IBEW Local 103 hall in Dorchester and dispatched volunteers to knock on more than 72,000 doors and make more than 63,000 phone calls, according a Coakley campaign press release.

Sunday, during a Greater Boston Interfaith Organization forum in South Boston, Coakley defined herself as the anti-corporate candidate in the race, defining her terms in office as attorney general by her willingness to take on the banks that foreclosed on Massachusetts homeowners.

“They got bailed out,” she said of the banks. “We did not. And we’re still bailing ourselves out in Massachusetts.”

While Republican candidate Charlie Baker defines himself as a government reformer, Coakley has been defending the record of Gov. Deval Patrick and pledging to continue his agenda of public investment.

“I think things need to get better,” she said. “I don’t think they need fixing. I think we need to invest in people.”

With the latest Boston Globe poll showing Coakley trailing Baker by nine percentage points, Coakley and her supporters are focused on rallying the traditional Democratic base of progressives, people of color and urban voters.

In Roxbury, volunteers are knocking on doors, dropping literature and phone banking, according to Ward 12 Democratic Committee co-Chairwoman Victoria Williams.

“Going into the next week, it’s going to be non-stop,” Williams said. “Our goal is to increase turnout. It’s always a struggle when it’s not Barack Obama or Deval Patrick on the ballot. People are conscious of this race, but they’re not as excited by it.”

Coming after eight years of state and national campaigns dominated by charismatic candidates including Patrick, President Obama and U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the Coakley-Baker matchup has many Democratic Party insiders worried that black and Latino voters may sit this one out. Both candidates were soundly defeated in their last runs for statewide office. Baker lost to Patrick in 2010. Coakley lost to former U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, also in 2010.

Baker appears to have kicked up his charisma quotient a few notches, grabbing attention with high visibility stops in the black community. Coakley, too, has caught fire in the weeks following her win in the Democratic primary, but has relied less on neighborhood meet-and-greets and more on large events with Democratic luminaries including First Lady Michelle Obama, former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

For City Councilor Ayanna Pressley, star power isn’t as important as the issues each candidate is pushing.

“This isn’t a popularity contest,” she said. “It’s a contest over policy.”

Pressley cites Coakley’s work in the attorney general’s office around racial profiling, predatory for-profit colleges, domestic violence and foreclosures as an indicated of her commitment to social justice.

“The choice is clear,” she said. “This is about who can lead the commonwealth. I want to see equality and opportunity across the board. Martha wants to fight for a commonwealth that is prosperous and fair.”

Still, Baker’s forays into urban centers appear to have paid dividends. While it’s unclear how he’s faring with black voters, a WBUR/MassINC poll has Coakley ahead of Baker by just nine points in Boston and the state’s 26 other cities. Patrick led Baker by a 22-point margin in the cities in 2010. Baker’s surge in the cities could undercut the Democrats’ traditional base of support in urban centers.

More worrisome for the Democrats, a Boston Globe poll released Thursday put Baker ahead by nine points statewide.

Former Democratic Party Chairman John Walsh, who now heads Patrick’s Together Political Action Committee, said voters should see through Baker’s welfare reform messaging. The welfare reform plan, outlined on Baker’s campaign website, is identical to the reforms passed by the state Senate earlier this year, Walsh notes.

“While people do appreciate the fact that he shows up, people understand that when he shows up in their living room, in every ad he’s talking about welfare reform,” Walsh said. “It’s a problem that doesn’t exist.”

Many of Coakley’s supporters are invoking the legacy of the Patrick administration to make the case for the Democratic ticket. Former City Councilor Felix D. Arroyo, who won the Democratic nomination for Suffolk County Register of Probate in September, has been working out of a coordinated campaign office on Centre Street in Jamaica Plain, making phone calls to Spanish-speaking voters on the candidate’s behalf.

“The issues that affect our lives are at stake,” Arroyo said. “The way Governor Patrick ran the state — we now have an economy where people can get jobs, we lead in health and in education. We want to make sure there’s continuity with those gains. Who’s in government matters.”

In the end, Democratic activists say, Coakley’s success or failure will hinge on the party’s ability to turn out its base.

Walsh says the Democratic ticket, from Coakley and other state-wide office candidates down to the dozens of Democratic state reps running for re-election, are coordinating efforts to drive higher turnout.

“If we do this correctly and combine our efforts, 75 to 80 percent of the people will vote Democratic across the board.”