Matt Viser writres in the Boston Globe that in any other campaign it would be a completely unremarkable appearance: a candidate working a room, shaking numerous hands and asking for votes, and delivering brief remarks.

But this is something Martha Coakley hasn’t done regularly in an abbreviated special election for US Senate that has caused the candidates to focus more on ground operations and phone calls than the retail politics that typically mark competitive statewide races.

“Good morning! I’m asking for your vote,” the Democratic attorney general said to one person today at the Kit Clark Senior Center in Dorchester, as Coakley aides passed out munchkins from Dunkin’ Donuts.

“You have my vote, don’t worry,” came the reply.

“You are the sweetest woman in the world,” one man told her as Coakley smiled and moved toward the microphones.

The US Senate race today continued into its final days, with many of the developments being dictated by outside interests pouring money into the race rather than anything being done by the candidates themselves, each of whom only held one public event.

Republican State Senator Scott Brown toured a medical device company in Chelmsford, using the event to again blast Democratic efforts to overhaul health care and tamp down Democratic efforts to paint him as a Republican in lock-step with the national GOP.

“The allegation that I vote 96 percent of the time with Republicans is inaccurate, but I’m proud of the fact that I’ve stood up against out-of-control spending and taxation in Massachusetts,” he said.

He also claimed that he was unfamiliar with the “Tea Party movement,” when asked by a reporter. When told that different people labeled him a conservative, moderate and a liberal Republican, he responded “I’m a Scott Brown Republican.”

Read more at: The Boston Globe