November 10, 2009 Meet the candidate: Attorney General Martha Coakley Play video

(NECN: Alison King) - Martha Coakley isn't cooking or relaxing much these days.

From one of her favorite diners in the town of Medford, where she lives, the Massachusetts U.S. Senate candidate sits down for a cup of coffee. Following a morning campaign stop at the Malden Senior Center where she shook hands and made small talk with the several dozen attendees - then launched into her pitch: She wants their vote.

Martha Coakley: It's very important, I think, that you pay attention to this race for US Senate.

Coakley is running as a classic front-runner: As the "inevitable candidate" who has the majority of institutional support, a double digit lead in the polls and who has raised the most money -- a stunning two million dollars in the month of September... Thanks in no small part to Emily’s List -- a national organization that supports pro-choice, Democratic women.

Coakley is the only woman in the race.

Martha Coakley was born in 1953 in Lee, Massachusetts, the third of five children born to Edward and Phyllis Coakley.

Six months later, the family moved to North Adams where her father ran an insurance business. Her mother stayed at home.

All the Coakley children attended the local Catholic school.

It wasn't long before Martha’s talent for public speaking and debate became clear.

Martha: They'd give you a topic, they'd give you a half hour - then you'd have to go and speak on it. So it was good training for

being a jury trial lawyer, particularly, but also, I think for running for office.

Martha transferred to the public high school in her senior year where she could further her debate skills and pursue other interests like the theater.

She was accepted early decision to prestigious Williams College -- just six miles down the road from her home.

Martha: At the time, Williams was going co-ed and so they were taking their first class of women who would go through all four years.

When Coakley was waitlisted for law school, she decided to take time off to live on Martha’s Vineyard where she waitressed and cleaned houses.

A year later, at Boston University law school, she was a stand out on the national moot court team. After graduation - there were seven years spent in private law practice.

Martha: In 1986, I decided I did want to get more trial experience and more public sector work and that's when I went to the Middlesex DA's office.

Under District Attorney Scott Harshbarger, Coakley rose to chief of the child abuse prosecution unit. In 1997 came the case of her career: Louise Woodward. Woodward was the 19 year-old British au pair who was convicted in the shaking death of an eight-month-old baby in her care.

The case received international attention and put a bright spotlight on Coakley and her fellow prosecutor Gerry Leone.

Martha: I think that was our first exposure to Big Media: Morning shows, evening shows, everyone wanted to talk to Gerry and me.

Coakley was already a player. By the end of that year, she decided she wanted to be the district attorney.

But the District Attorneys job is an elected office and Coakley had no experience in politics. So she resigned from the DA's office to run for State Representative from the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston where she lived.

Martha: And so I thought, here's a good race for me to try out for instance. I'm probably not going to win, but let me see - do I like it. Can I do well in it?

And even though I came in fourth out of fifth, I actually enjoyed the experience. I think I came out of that race with a good reputation.

A year later, when her then boss, district attorney Tom Reilly, ran for Attorney General, Coakley decided to run for his seat -- the only woman in the race.

This time, she won.

Martha Coakley: I loved being the District Attorney. I knew that office very well.

In 2000, while District Attorney, Coakley married Thomas O'Connor, a deputy superintendent in the Cambridge police department.

They have two dogs - no children.

In 2006, Coakley did what her two predecessors had done -- she ran for Attorney General.

With her job experience, name recognition and campaign funds -- she was a prime candidate - winning the democratic nomination unopposed and coasting to victory in November.

Since then, she says she has gained the knowledge that qualifies her to be a senator.

Martha: I've sat as Attorney General for 2-1/2 years and seen everything that Wall Street did and that Washington didn't -- to create the situation we're in now. I'm running on that issue and I'm running on it because I care about that and I enjoy public service and I like getting a good result.

Coakley is pro-choice, she supports gay rights and just recently announced she no longer supports the death penalty.

On the major issues currently before Congress: she supports a public option in health care reform and would -not- send more troops to Afghanistan unless a compelling case was made.

She argues that her positions on national and foreign policy issues are similar to Ted Kennedy’s.

Like all the candidates Coakley often refers to Kennedy on the campaign trail although there's been some talk that she offended the Kennedy family by deciding to announce her candidacy just a few days after Ted Kennedy died.

Martha: I believed that if were going to run, that I could not wait. I wasn't going to wait to see if others were going to get in or not.

I was probably the only candidate in the race who would start from zero in terms of fundraising and that if I were going to do it and give voters a sincere choice that I had to be prepared and ready. I never intended, nor do I believe, that I caused and dis-respect to other members of the Kennedy family.

The federal elections committee is currently investigating a charge by the state Republican Party that Coakley was illegally spending money for her federal race earlier this year, using money from her state coffers.

But perhaps a more difficult challenge for Coakley to overcome... The charge by her critics, that Coakley is too "cautious" a politician to fill the seat of the late liberal lion.

Martha Coakley: I certainly was the least cautious in this race. I am the one who said, I'm going to get in. I'm going to run regardless of who else is in the race, I'm going to push that forward. I happen to think I'm careful in my responsibilities as I was as District Attorney or as Attorney General.

Coakley would be the first female U.S. Senator from Massachusetts -- an historical fact that she down plays.

If she wins, she says, it will not be because she's a woman, it will be because but she is the best candidate for the job.