By Paul Tuthill
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Boston, MA – The Democratic candidates for the US Senate in Massachusetts meet tonight for their first debate. The Massachusetts Senate race is being watched nationally, as Democrats are determined to re-take the seat in 2012 that was captured by Republican Scott Brown in a special election.. WAMC's Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill reports.
The first debate between the six Democrats seeking to challenge Scott Brown's re-election bid in 2012 comes in the wake of a poll that put consumer advocate Elizabeth Warren way in front of her Democratic rivals and in a dead heat with the Republican incumbent.
The UMass Lowell-Boston Herald poll of a thousand registered voters had Brown leading Warren 41 percent to 38 percent..which is within the polls margin of error. The poll established Warren as the runaway front runner in the Democratic primary with 36 percent of the vote. None of the other five candidates polled more than five percent
Political consultant Tony Cignolli said the results are somewhat surprising, given that Warren has been a declared candidate for less than a month, and nearly a third of the people polled said they'd not heard of her
For the other five Democrats, City Year founder Alan Khazei, activist Bob Massie, immigration lawyer Marisa DeFranco, State Representative Tom Conroy and businessman Herb Robinson, tonight's debate is critical, Cignolli believes, if they hope to continue raising money to keep their campaigns going.
Democratic political analyst Dan Payne says tonight's debate is very important to Warren
Scott Brown, on Monday, downplayed the latest poll that showed him a dead heat with Warren, insisting he was not worried about the results of a poll for an election that is still 13 months away, but Payne says Brown has reason to worry.
Todd Domke, a Republican political analyst says Brown is not taking Warren lightly
Tonight's debate is being held on the campus of UMass Lowell, in the Merrimack Valley a region that could be pivotal in the outcome of next year's Senate race. Niki Tsongas, who represents the region in the US House of Representatives , on Monday endorsed Warren .