Bay State brawl

摘要

Gabriel gomez, the Republican candidate to fill Massachusetts's vacant Senate seat in a special election on June 25th, ponders his resemblance to Scott Brown, the Republican victor in the previous such election three years ago. Mr Brown is an army reservist, Mr Gomez points out, whereas he is a navy man. "It's totally different," he jokes. The two races have much in common. In both cases, a veteran Democrat suddenly left his seat up for grabs: Teddy Kennedy (first elected in 1962) died in 2009; John Kerry (first elected in 1984) has just become secretary of state. Both times, the Democrats nominated a big-cheese candidate: in 2010 they opted for Martha Coakley, the state's attorney-general, and this time Ed Markey, a congressman for 37 years. The Republicans, by contrast, plumped for fresh faces: Mr Brown, a little-known state senator, and Mr Gomez, a private-equity guy with scant experience of politics.