Chelmsford Independence Day Parade

Martha and her team of dedicated volunteers had a great time marching in the Chelmsford Independence Day Parade this past Monday. 

Despite soaring temperatures, the route was full of enthusiastic parade-goers cheering on marching bands, elected officials, veterans, and various organizations.

 Thank you to the Chelmsford Parade Committee for hosting such a wonderful day!

An Update from the Campaign Trail

The weather has finally begun to turn and Martha and our outstanding volunteers have been incredibly busy this month! A quick update from the last month:

We’re pleased to report that we are making progress towards collecting the 10,000 signatures we need, thanks to our Days of Action over recent weekends.  Each Saturday, Martha has met up with volunteers at Headquarters and then ventured out to high-traffic areas in the community to collect signatures and say thank you to voters.  Throughout the month, Martha made visits to supermarkets in West Roxbury, Porter Square, Fresh Pond, and Arlington. Check out photos on our Flickr site.   We have more Days of Action coming up on March 27, April 3, and April 10. Sign up to join us for a couple of hours by emailing volunteer@marthacoakley.com.

Earlier in the month, Martha visited Malden, South Boston, and Lowell to enjoy local St. Patrick’s Day festivities. She also made appearances on Greater Boston with Emily Rooney (watch online), Nightside with Dan Rea on WBZ 1030AM (listen to the podcast online), and FOX25 Morning News for “Ask the AG” (watch online).

Martha has also been busy at work as Attorney General.  Earlier this week, The Boston Globe wrote an editorial about Martha’s work combating the faulty marketing of antipsychotic drugs, and her participation in a lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson.  Also earlier this week, the Supreme Court rejected a challenge to the Massachusetts buffer zone law – a law which Martha has defended over the last year. The statute protects public safety and patient access to reproductive health care facilities by creating a 35-foot buffer zone around clinic entrances and driveways.  And this week, Martha announced a settlement with Countrywide Financial Corporation that provides an estimated $18 million in loan modifications for Massachusetts homeowners, $3 billion in loan modifications for homeowners across the country, and a $4.1 million payment to the Commonwealth.

Make sure to follow Martha on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook for all the latest news and events.

Volunteer Meeting #2

Throughout Martha’s years in public office, we have always been consistently amazed with the support from thousands of volunteers across the state.  Supporters have made phone calls, held signs in their communities, proudly displayed bumper stickers and lawn signs, talked to their friends and neighbors, attended events, donated money, and so much more to show their support.  From North Adams to Provincetown, so many of you have given of your time and talents to work help Martha, and we can’t do or say enough to express our thanks.

Last night, Martha hosted a number of volunteers at campaign headquarters to say thank you for their hard work, and to give volunteers a chance to meet the new campaign staff and to hear about next steps for the new campaign to re-elect Martha as Attorney General.

It was a packed house at headquarters – thank you to all who were able to attend!  We know there are many volunteers who live in cities and towns that may not be convenient to Charlestown, so with that in mind we are coordinating volunteer meetings in different regions in the coming weeks.  More information will be available on our events calendar, and check back to our blog for details.

Visiting Caucuses

Today Martha was on the campaign trail with stops at caucuses in West Roxbury, Lowell, Braintree, Lexington, and Brookline.  Throughout the day, hopeful delegates shook hands and offered their support as Martha and volunteers worked to secure 10,000 certified signatures to get her name on the ballot.  We spent the day live-tweeting from the trail (follow @MarthaCoakley on Twitter).  Thanks to the ward and town chairs for welcoming us today: John Cushing (W. Roxbury), Mike Demeras and Patty Kirwin Keilty (Lowell), Sonya Shaw (Braintree), Judith Pappo (Lexington), and Cindy Rowe (Brookline).  Check out photos from today on our Flickr stream.

Caucus attendees were also vying for spots as delegates to this summer's Democratic State Convention in Worcester.  It's always great to see such big crowds of active and involved participants in this process, and today was no exception with large crowds everywhere we went.

There were a number of caucuses held statewide today, and we wish we could have made it to each and every one!  There were a number of reports from the road posted to BlueMassGroup today.  Were you at your caucus?  Tell us about it!

First Organizational Meeting

Last night we opened the doors to Coakley Headquarters and welcomed our volunteers for our first organizational meeting. We had a great crowd of enthusiastic supporters, and officially kicked off our signature drive to get Martha's name on the ballot for re-election as Attorney General.

It was great to see some familiar faces again and some new supporters joining the team for this very important first phase of the campaign.  To ensure that Martha's name appears on the ballot, we must collect 10,000 certified signatures in a short couple of months.  We've posted a new page on our website explaining the signature process, and everything you need to know to get involved.

As part of this drive, we're focusing attention on local caucuses.  Throughout the month of February, Massachusetts communities will be holding its caucus to elect delegates to this year’s Democratic State Convention in Worcester this June.  These caucuses are great locations to gather signatures, with attendees from a single municipality in one location (signature papers are separated by city/town), and who are typically registered Democrats or registered unenrolled voters.  The Massachusetts Democratic Party has a complete list of caucus dates and locations on their website: www.massdems.org.  

Check out our events calendar for updates on which caucuses Martha will be attending throughout the month.