By Jim O’Sullivan, Globe Staff

With only a week left before voters go to the polls, the two candidates for US Senate let loose tonight with their full arsenals in a heated third and final debate, driving home arguments that have resonated throughout the compressed special election calendar. Democratic nominee Edward J. Markey repeatedly pushed Republican nominee Gabriel E. Gomez on gun control, while Gomez swatted at Markey for being an entrenched member of Congress who has consistently backed higher taxes.

By Joshua Miller, Globe Staff

Dr. Donald M. Berwick, a former Obama administration official, today announced he is running for governor in 2014. “As a doctor, an educator, an innovator and someone who has dedicated his professional career to making things work better and to helping people – I am ready to lead,” the Newton Democrat said in a statement announcing his candidacy. Berwick, a pediatrician, former Harvard faculty member, and a former administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, has been exploring a run in recent months.

By Jim O’Sullivan, Globe Staff

Welfare applicants would need to prove they have searched for employment before receiving cash benefits, under legislation that Senate leaders unveiled Monday morning.

The bill, which comes in the wake of widespread reports of fraud and abuse, would prod welfare seekers to find jobs through a state-run program before applying for benefits. That provision is designed to encourage unemployed people who would otherwise seek public assistance as a first option instead to test the job market.

“The system has been stagnant for a long time,” said Senate President Therese Murray at a State House press conference. “And we want to shake up the system, and give people some hope, too.”

The Senate will take up the bill on Thursday, Murray said, break-neck speed for Beacon Hill legislation.

By Jim O’Sullivan, Globe Staff

Former President Bill Clinton hits Worcester on Saturday for Democratic Senate nominee Edward J. Markey, the latest chapter in the warm tale of the central Massachusetts city and the 42nd commander-in-chief.

Call it a love affair, of the municipal variety.

It was Worcester where Clinton on August 27, 1998 chose to emerge from the bunker into which he had climbed after acknowledging on national television a relationship with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky that was “not appropriate.” Clinton had been vacationing on Martha’s Vineyard, confined mostly to private interactions with wealthy vacation home owners, and in the doghouse with then-First Lady Hillary Clinton.

At the invitation of US Representative James P. McGovern, a Worcester Democrat, Clinton came to the City of the Seven Hills, ostensibly to tout a school safety program, but in reality to gingerly dip a scandal-plagued toe back into the political waters.

By Jim O’Sullivan, Globe Staff

Leveraging his 37-year incumbency and a healthy fundraising operation, Democratic Senate nominee Edward J. Markey outspent Republican rival Gabriel E. Gomez by nearly $4 million in a nine-week period heading into the final stretch of their special election.

Markey claimed $4.6 million in his account on April 10, three weeks before winning the Democratic primary, according to Federal Election Commission records. Between that date and June 5, Markey took in $2.9 million in contributions, and spent $5.9 million, finishing the reporting period with $2.3 million.

By Jim O’Sullivan, Globe Staff

Senate Democratic nominee Edward J. Markey’s new campaign advertisement is less about Markey himself than it is about President Obama, a televised distillation of the heavy infrastructural advantage Markey enjoys over Republican nominee Gabriel E. Gomez. In fact, Markey’s only speaking role in the 30-second spot, which is entitled “Folks” and begins airing today, is to deliver the boilerplate tagline stating his approval of the message. Obama, shown at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center podium where he campaigned for Markey on Wednesday, enthuses, “Ed has been a champion for middle-class families and small businesses. He’s stood up for common-sense laws to keep our children safe from gun violence. I’ve got to have folks with me who care as passionately about these things as I do. That’s who Ed Markey is. I need Ed Markey in the United States Senate.”

By Jim O’Sullivan, Globe Staff

As national Democrats have opened their wallets to support Senate nominee Edward J. Markey, GOP rival Gabriel E. Gomez’s campaign has longed for such assistance from the Republican party.

Meanwhile, the GOP figure perhaps most popular in Massachusetts, former Senator Scott P. Brown, has been largely off-stage. Brown, who opted earlier this year against seeking the seat himself, has not lent Gomez’s campaign the star wattage that accrues a former US senator who three years ago pulled off a historic upset.

On Thursday, Brown said he had contributed to Gomez’s campaign, assisted with fundraising, and already voted absentee for Gomez, in anticipation of spending Election Day in his role as a FOX NEWS contributor.

By Michael Levenson and Jim O’Sullivan, Globe Staff

The Massachusetts political establishment honored the life of former governor Argeo Paul Cellucci today in a memorial at the State House. The casket carrying the former governor processed into the State House shortly past noon, past a string of dignitaries that included Governor Deval Patrick and former governors Mitt Romney, Jane Swift, Michael Dukakis, and Cellucci’s friend and political partner, former governor William F. Weld.

By Jim O’Sullivan, Globe Staff

Vice President Joe Biden will visit the Brockton area next week on behalf of US Representative Edward J. Markey, the Democratic Senate nominee told state lawmakers on Thursday, according to several people in the room. In a meeting with dozens of Democratic legislators at a Boston hotel before a State House ceremony honoring the late governor Argeo Paul Cellucci, Markey said that this weekend’s campaign stop in Worcester by former President Bill Clinton would be followed by a vice-presidential visit. Biden would be the fourth major national Democrat in less than a month to come to Markey’s aid in his special Senate election campaign against private equity investor and former Navy SEAL Gabriel E. Gomez. Michelle Obama came to Boston last month and President Obama rallied a Roxbury Crossing crowd on Wednesday.

By Joshua Miller, Globe Staff

A new political group called Americans for Progressive Action is set to soon launch more than $558,000 in television ads in support of Republican US Senate hopeful Gabriel E. Gomez, according to Democratic and Republican sources.

By Joshua Miller, Globe Staff

President Obama exhorted a crowd of thousands to support US Senate hopeful Edward J. Markey, who Obama said, would “carry on the legacy of John Kerry and Ted Kennedy” and “be my partner.”

At the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center in Roxbury, Obama told a fired-up crowd that he needed Markey to help accomplish his agenda.

“I’ve got to have folks in the United States Senate who are willing to stand up for working people just like I am,” he said to cheers and applause. “I need Ed Markey in the United States Senate!”

Obama reminded the audience to achieve that result, he needed them to head to the polls on June 25 and encourage their friends, family, and neighbors to do the same.

By Michael Levenson, Globe Staff

Former president Bill Clinton will campaign for Senate candidate Edward J. Markey in Worcester on Saturday, the latest big-name Democrat to hit the trail in the closely fought Massachusetts Senate race. Clinton’s visit was confirmed today by a Democratic official with direct knowledge of the stop. The former president will try to boost Markey less than a week after President Obama rallied thousands of Markey supporters at the Reggie Lewis track in Roxbury on Tuesday.

By Jim O’Sullivan and Michael Levenson, Globe Staff

President Obama got his burger fix today at a familiar South End haunt -- Charlie’s Sandwich Shoppe on Columbus Avenue. The president, sans jacket, ordered a cheeseburger with lettuce, tomato, mustard, and french fries, to go, and left a $20 bill on the $8 tab, according to Charlie’s staff.

By Michael Levenson, Globe Staff

Republican Senate candidate Gabriel E. Gomez is trying to use a dose of humor to deflect Democratic criticism of his positions on health care and taxes.

In a new television ad, Gomez shows images from an attack ad recently launched by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Comittee, a group backing Representative Edward J. Markey, as an announcer declares in a theatrical voice that, “Gabriel Gomez is a very bad man. He kills old people. He hates women. He even leaves the toilet seat up.”

By Matt Viser, Globe Staff

Vice President Joe Biden, at a fundraiser in Washington tonight for Representative Ed Markey, was highly critical of the Republican Party – saying it had become beholden to two freshman senators – even as he praised Markey and implored supporters not to take the Massachusetts election for granted. The fundraiser, held at a private home in an expensive neighborhood in Washington, was also headlined by former Vice President Al Gore and Vicki Kennedy, the widow of the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy. Biden urged some 200 attendees not to assume Markey will win, saying “this is a strange moment” and that, without the president at the top of the ticket, minority turnout in Massachusetts might be low.

By Jim O’Sullivan, Globe Staff

It’s the Struggle of Springfield, the War for the West, the Battle in the Birthplace of Basketball.

When Republican Gabriel E. Gomez and Democrat Edward J. Markey face off tonight in the second debate of their US Senate campaign, much of the focus -- both discussion topics and audience demographics -- will lie in the western part of the state.

The further west you go on the Massachusetts Turnpike, the more the state’s Boston-centric political structure’s attention tends to dissipate.

But tonight, exactly two weeks before voters choose a successor to John F. Kerry, Gomez and Markey will have to compete for those votes.

The debate will be broadcast from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. on WGBY-TV, CBS 3 Springfield, ABC-40/FOX-6 and NBC-22, and air on New England Public Radio, 88.5 FM. MassLive.com will livestream the debate.

By Joshua Miller, Globe Staff

A new poll of likely voters released this morning found Democrat Edward J. Markey leading Republican Gabriel E. Gomez by 7 points in the race for US Senate. That’s the same margin as a poll released Monday.

The new WBUR poll, conducted by the MassINC Polling Group, found Markey took 46 percent to Gomez’s 39 percent, with 11 percent undecided. The margin of error was plus or minus 4.4 percent.

By Joshua Miller, Globe Staff

A new poll of likely voters released Monday found Democrat Edward J. Markey leading Republican Gabriel E. Gomez by seven percentage points, just over two weeks before Massachusetts voters choose their next US senator. The Suffolk University poll found Markey ahead 48 percent to Gomez’s 41 percent, with 10 percent of respondents still undecided. The margin of error was plus or minus 4.4 percent. The race appears to have tightened substantially since early May, when a Suffolk University/7 News poll found Markey had a 17-point lead over Gomez.

By Jim O’Sullivan, Globe Staff

The genuine affection from Democrats poured out since Argeo Paul Cellucci’s death, and the sincere expressions of empathy during his long illness, strike at the unique role the former governor plays in the state’s political history. Cellucci, who died Saturday after a long battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, was more than just the last Bay State native elected to the office, or the only Beacon Hill figure in the last quarter-century to work his way through the State House to win the electorate’s appointment to the top job. While Massachusetts, and states generally, lag the national political climate in partisan acrimony, Cellucci nonetheless stands out, for various reasons, as the last chief executive who could reasonably be considered a bipartisan figure.

, Globe Staff

A British newspaper Sunday revealed the source of the leak revealing the NSA’s extensive surveillance of US communications.

Edward Snowden, a former CIA technical assistant who now works for a defense contractor with ties to the National Security Agency, asked the Guardian newspaper to reveal his identity.

“I have no intention of hiding who I am because I know I have done nothing wrong,” he told the newspaper in a remarkable, rambling interview that touched on his reasons for the leak, how he took precautions in not revealing documents that could harm particular people, how he became disillusioned, and how he expects his life as he knows it to end. “I don’t want the story to be about me. I want it to be about what the US government is doing.”

By Matt Viser, Globe Staff

Vice President Joe Biden is planning to attend a fundraiser next week for Representative Edward J. Markey, as Democrats continue to try and inject funds into his US Senate campaign in the final stretch of the special election. Former Vice President Al Gore is also planning to attend the fundraiser, which is being held in Washington on Tuesday evening. About 150 people are expected to attend, according to the Markey campaign.

By Stephanie Ebbert, Globe Staff

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani joined Republican Senate nominee Gabriel E. Gomez on a walking tour of Boylston Street and visited the memorial for marathon bombing victims, praising the former Navy SEAL as a candidate who can be trusted on national security.

“This is a man who’s willing to give his life for his country and he’s demonstrated that,” Giuliani said.

Giuliani, who unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for president in 2008, praised political leaders’ handling of the marathon bombings, but he had harsh words for Gomez’s Democratic opponent in the US Senate special election. He noted that US Rep. Edward J. Markey voted against a resolution honoring the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

By Jim O’Sullivan, Globe Staff

National Democrats are rallying behind US Senate nominee Edward. J Markey, with two Washington, D.C., groups preparing to spend a total of more than $1 million, according to published reports. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which bestowed its blessing on Markey early in the Democratic primary, will shell out about $750,000 in advertising, according to The Washington Post. A DSCC official said the ad would begin airing on Friday. Senate Majority PAC is “planning a major statewide buy,” it announced today. National Journal reported the super PAC would spend “at least $500,000.”

By Michael Levenson, Globe Staff

Governor Deval Patrick may call Massachusetts home, but Illinois considers him a native son.

On Friday, Governor Pat Quinn of Illinois will honor Patrick’s South Side roots by renaming part of Wabash Avenue in Chicago “Honorary Gov. Deval Patrick Ave.”

Patrick’s press office said the governor will fly to Chicago for the ceremony, which will rechristen Wabash at the intersection of 53rd street.

It is perhaps one of many honors to come for the governor as he approaches the end of his second term and prepares to leave office in 2015. But it also promises to be a nostalgic moment for Massachusetts’ chief executive.

By Jim O’Sullivan, Globe Staff

During their first turns before the camera at Wednesday night’s debate, both Gabriel Gomez and Ed Markey sported ties slightly but noticeably crooked. It would not be the last moment of the evening when things seemed slightly askew. Neither Gomez nor Markey demonstrated himself as a forceful, effective debater, in line with expectations for many who observed the Republican and Democratic primary debates.

By Joshua Miller, Globe Staff

On the same night Republican Gabriel E. Gomez faced off for the first time against Democrat Edward J. Markey in a debate, the GOP candidate launched a new television ad in his race for US Senate. The upbeat 30-second spot focuses on his biography, does not mention his opponent and emphasizes that the former Navy SEAL is “a new kind of Republican.”

By Joshua Miller, Globe Staff

US Senate hopefuls Democrat Edward J. Markey and Republican Gabriel E. Gomez meet tonight at 7 p.m. in the first of three high-stakes television debates.

Markey, a long-time congressman, will go toe-to-toe with Gomez, a private equity investor, at the WBZ-TV studios in Allston in a debate sponsored by WBZ and The Boston Globe.

Less than three weeks before the election, the hour-long forum gives each a chance to introduce or reintroduce himself to voters, knock his opponent, and attempt to cast the storyline of the compressed race in his favor. But, as with any live television event, opportunities abound for the candidates to stumble.

The debate will air live on WBZ-TV and will stream online at www.cbsboston.com, www.boston.com, and www.bostonglobe.com. It will also air on WBZ NewsRadio 1030 AM.

Here are live updates from the debate:

By Joshua Miller, Globe Staff

In the first debate of the US Senate general election, Republican Gabriel E. Gomez launched into offense, again and again attacking Democrat Edward J. Markey as the distillation of everything that is wrong with a sclerotic US Capitol.

“You are basically Washington, D.C.,” Gomez said. “I’m sorry sir, but you are.”

Markey held his own, brushing off the attacks and repeatedly returned to two issue areas where he diverged from Gomez: his support for gun control measures that Gomez opposes and his support for abortion rights, which he juxtaposed with Gomez’s professed personal opposition to abortion rights.

“You saw someone representing the oldest Republican ideas,” Markey said in a scrum with reporters after the debate. “He obviously does not believe that a woman should have a right to choose.”

By Matt Viser, Globe Staff

President Obama, in a significant shakeup of his foreign policy and national security team, announced on Wednesday that his top national security adviser Tom Donilon was resigning and would be replaced by Susan Rice, the United Nations ambassador who has been a target of Republican criticism. Rice will be replaced by Samantha Power, a former Harvard professor and longtime Obama loyalist who has been an outspoken humanitarian.

By Michael Levenson, Globe Staff

Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, will campaign with Republican Senate candidate Gabriel E. Gomez on Thursday, making several stops in the area, including one at the Boston Marathon bombing memorial in Copley Square. Giuliani, who vaulted to national prominence in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, has often campaigned for Massachusetts Republicans, who believe his moderate social views and tough-on-crime stances will help them appeal to independent voters.

By Joshua Miller, Globe Staff

US Senate hopefuls Democrat Edward J. Markey and Republican Gabriel E. Gomez meet tonight at 7 p.m. in the first of three high-stakes television debates. Markey, a long-time congressman, will go toe-to-toe with Gomez, a private equity investor, at the WBZ-TV studios in Allston in a debate sponsored by WBZ-TV and The Boston Globe.

By Joshua Miller, Globe Staff

As both candidates prepare for Wednesday’s US Senate debate, Democrat Edward J. Markey released a 60-second radio advertisement that peppers listeners with questions about his opponent, Gabriel E. Gomez, and attempts to paint the Republican as an opaque figure.

“Get ready, Massachusetts,” a male narrator says. “Tonight is the first debate between Republican Gabriel Gomez and Democrat Ed Markey. It’s a chance to finally get some answers from Gabriel Gomez.”

A female narrator then adds: “Answers to simple questions. Like where Gomez stands on the controversial bill seeking to prevent women from getting birth control.”

That line appears to be referring to the Blunt Amendment, a measure that would have let an employer opt out of paying for workers’ birth control coverage.

By Michael Levenson and Jim O’Sullivan, Globe Staff

President Obama will be coming to Boston next week to campaign for Senate candidate Edward J. Markey, according to two Democratic officials. Obama is planning to hold a fundraiser on June 12 for Markey, two weeks after the first lady, Michelle Obama, held a fundraiser for the congressman at the Taj hotel in Boston. “He’s going to come in and lift our spirits, help us raise some money,” said John Walsh, the chairman of the state Democratic Party. Markey is locked in a battle with Republican Senate Gabriel E. Gomez. The election is June 25.

By Jim O’Sullivan and Joshua Miller, Globe Staff

Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio on Tuesday asked political supporters to donate to Senate nominee Gabriel E. Gomez’s campaign, pitching the Massachusetts Republican as a way to help the GOP take back the Senate. In an email, Rubio encouraged $15 contributions that he said would “see to it that Gabriel Gomez is the first victory on our drive to a GOP Senate majority.” Rubio, popular in the national GOP and considered a front-line 2016 presidential prospect, adds star wattage to Gomez’s campaign, which until recent days had not drawn heavy support from outside Massachusetts.

By Michael Levenson, Globe Staff

Democratic Senate candidate Edward J. Markey released a new television ad on Tuesday that tries to undercut Gabriel E. Gomez’s claim to be a “new kind of Republican.” The ad shows Gomez saying he is “personally pro-life,” that “I think you can think about increasing the retirement age,” for Social Security benefits, and that “I don’t believe we need to do an assault weapons ban.” “So when you hear, ‘I’m a new kind of Republican,’ you know it’s not true,” a narrator says in the 30-second spot, titled “Not True.” The ad is part of Markey’s strategy to tie Gomez to the conservative positions of the national Republican Party, which Democrats believe are deeply unpopular in traditionally left-leaning Massachusetts.

By Jim O’Sullivan, Globe Staff

Republican Senate nominee Gabriel E. Gomez sought today to distance himself from the national party, and charged Democratic nominee US Representative Edward J. Markey with campaigning in a “time warp.” Hit with a Markey campaign ad seeking to capitalize on the locally unpopular national GOP supporting him, Gomez told reporters that he differs with many in his party on climate change, abortion rights, and gun control.

By Wesley Lowery, Globe Staff

By Wesley Lowery, Globe Staff

Boston City Councilor Charles Yancey -- who has been noncommittal about whether he will run for re-election, for mayor, or for both -- today became the seventh mayoral candidate to be certified by the city election department. Yancey joins fellow councilors Felix Arroyo, John Connolly, and Rob Consalvo, as well as State Representative Martin J. Walsh, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley, and community organizer John F. Barros on the slate of mayoral candidates on the ballot.

By Wesley Lowery, Globe Staff

One day after national Republicans jumped into Massachusetts’ US Senate race to support GOP candidate Gabriel Gomez, his Democratic opponent seized the opportunity to unleash an online ad tying Gomez to national conservative leaders. The ad put out by US Representative Edward J. Markey’s campaign, titled “McConnell’s Republican Majority,” paints Gomez as vital to the national Republican party’s agenda and attempts to link him directly to past statements by Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, whom Democrats regard as a chief obstructionist to the Obama administration.

By Stephanie Ebbert, Globe Staff

National Republicans who have so far kept their distance from the Massachusetts US Senate special election suddenly jumped in on Friday, with Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell offering to triple donations sent to GOP nominee Gabriel E. Gomez.

McConnell appealed to Massachusetts donors in an e-mail sent from the National Republican Senatorial Committee, saying he would match donations by three times, up to $32,000.

“The outcome of Massachusetts Senate Special Election will determine the tone and tenor of American politics going into the 2014 midterm elections,” McConnell wrote. “We have the opportunity to send a clear message to Senator Harry Reid that Washington, D.C., is broken and that the status quo is not good enough. Help us send an outsider to Washington by contributing now!”

Gomez’s campaign welcomed the support noncommittally.

By Michael Levenson, Globe Staff

Carole King, the legendary singer-songwriter whose hits include “You’ve Got a Friend,” and “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” will campaign for the Democratic Senate candidate this weekend, beginning with an appearance at Zaftig’s Delicatessen in Brookline today.

The Brill Building alum, who performed at the Boston Strong concert at the TD Garden on Thursday night, will speak to a group called Women for Markey at the Jewish deli in Coolidge Corner, before making stops in Somerville, Lexington, and Wellesley on Saturday and in Cambridge on Sunday.

Markey, however, will not be there to croon a few bars with King. The Malden Democrat is scheduled to appear at his own separate events in Boston and Wakefield today, and then make a series of solo campaign stops over the weekend.

By Stephanie Ebbert, Globe Staff

Republican US Senate candidate Gabriel E. Gomez on Thursday again demurred when asked whether he would have supported last year’s Senate bill limiting contraceptive coverage, saying he had already been clear about his position.

“I’m not sure how much more clear I can be,” Gomez told reporters at a press conference while visiting a small business in Wellesley.

Gomez went on to state his position on related issues of abortion and contraception but he again declined to say how he would have voted on the Blunt Amendment.

By Joshua Miller, Globe Staff

If the full force of the Republican establishment and its donors has been behind Massachusetts Senate hopeful Gabriel E. Gomez, Brad Todd has missed it. The influential Virginia-based Republican consultant, a paid Gomez adviser, took to Twitter on Thursday to express his frustration with the support the Bay State GOP nominee has received so far. “Will mod[erate] R[epublican] donor class put its money where mouth is? Is this a party or therapy session?” he tweeted. “GOPers have moped in sack cloth lab coats for 7 months,” he added in another tweet. “Stop analyzing. Start winning. Get out of the Endless Post Mortem & help @GomezForMa.”

By Jim O’Sullivan, Globe Staff

Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee’s decision to join the Democratic Party, following a stint as an independent after a career in the Republican Party, makes him the third New England statewide officeholder since 2001 to switch his affiliation. The frequency of incumbents leaving their longtime parties – often accompanied by the pat explanation that their parties have, in fact, left them – reflects the region’s decades-long leftward trend and the collapse of the Republican Party as an electoral force in what was once fertile territory. “It is a regional problem,” said Rhode Island Republican Party chairman Mark Smiley. “We have to make inroads. Eventually, if we don’t, we won’t be able to make anyone president or have a majority or anything. We’ll have no chance nationally.”

By Joshua Miller and Michael Levenson, Globe Staff

Michelle Obama swooped into Boston today for a fundraiser for US Representative Edward J. Markey that was expected to net the Democratic Senate candidate at least $600,000 for his battle against Republican Gabriel E. Gomez.

“The first lady is a symbol of our future,” Markey told reporters outside the fundraiser at the Taj Boston. “She inspires millions of Americans, millions of people around the world, on a daily basis. So it is a tremendous honor for me to have the first lady here in Boston today, and I think it’s really going to provide real energy and impetus to my campaign.”

Well-heeled Democratic donors paid as much as $37,600 for tickets to the event, which benefits Markey Senate Victory, a joint fundraising committee of the Markey campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

By Jim O’Sullivan, Globe Staff

The state Republican Party has filed a public records request for documents that might show whether public resources were used in landing Lieutenant Governor Timothy P. Murray the private sector position Murray will assume next week. Murray and aides to Governor Deval Patrick have denied that the administration undertook any such efforts, saying that the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce approached Murray about taking over as its president and CEO.

By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff

State Representative Linda Dorcena Forry cruised to victory Tuesday night in the race for a state Senate seat long held by men from South Boston, formally marking the start of a new era with the Dorchester Democrat taking the so-called “Southie seat.”

Dorcena Forry defeated Republican Joseph Anthony Ureneck in the First Suffolk district race, capturing nearly 82 percent of the 9,618 votes cast, according to unofficial figures posted on the city of Boston website.

“It feels wonderful, ” Dorcena Forry said in a phone interview Tuesday night. “I look forward to working with everyone in the First Suffolk district and really being their voice and working hard on everyone’s behalf.”

By Bryan Bender, Globe Staff

Freshman Representative Joseph P. Kennedy III returned from his first trip to Afghanistan late Monday, where he met with President Hamid Karzai and visited US troops.

Kennedy, who traveled as part of a bipartisan group of five lawmakers, said he was impressed by the US effort to prepare Afghan forces to take over the fight with the Taliban by the end of 2014.

“It is incredible what our troops have been able to accomplish in 10 years, after much sacrifice,” he said Tuesday.

But he cautioned that a key factor that could determine whether those efforts will be sustainable will be whether elections scheduled for next spring to replace Karzai, who has been in office since the Taliban was toppled in 2002, are viewed as legitimate.

By Jim O’Sullivan, Globe Staff

Seeking to turn Republican opponent Gabriel E. Gomez’s resistance to raising taxes into a political liability, US Representative Edward J. Markey’s has begun airing a television ad playing up the congressman’s advocacy for higher taxes on corporations and millionaires. The 30-second spot, entitled “Tax Fairness,” hits Gomez on the same issue, tax policy, that the GOP nominee’s campaign has said it will focus on this week, arguing that Markey’s consistent support for higher taxes is out of step with voters.

By Joshua Miller, Globe Staff

First Lady Michelle Obama, who is headlining a fundraiser for Democratic Senate hopeful Edward J. Markey Wednesday, will also visit with victims of the Boston Marathon bombings she met last month, according to the White House. The first lady met patients at Boston Children’s Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital while she was in Massachusetts with the President on April 18, three days after the bombing. The White House did not provide details of the locations she will visit on Wednesday. In addition to the Boston fundraiser, the first lady will also attend two fundraisers for the Democratic National Committee in New York City late in the day Wednesday.