Massachusetts Senate: Markey 42, Gomez 36

With the Democratic and Republican nominees set after yesterday's special U.S. Senate primaries in Massachusetts to replace now-Secretary of State John Kerry, the long road to election day will be a consistent bombardment of polls, television advertisements and campaign trailblazing.

Beginning with Emerson College's first poll of the race between Democrat Congressman Ed Markey and Republican businessman and ex-SEAL Gabriel Gomez that was released yesterday afternoon and tells us that this contest is anyone's game to win at this point, with well over twenty percent of voters undecided.

2013 Massachusetts U.S. Senate:

Markey (D) - 42%
Gomez (R) - 36%

The survey of 797 registered voters found that Gomez, the child of Colombian immigrants and a political newcomer who served in the SEAL's back in the nineties, has a solid 45% favorable rating and an even better 25% unfavorable rating, something that bodes well for his candidacy: think moderate Republican, military background and a favorable public opinion... Brown 2.0 - the Colombian version.

While this campaign is just in its infancy, Gomez has a realistic shot of winning this election - he's a smart, moderate, former Navy SEAL who would be Massachusetts first Latino U.S. Senator, and has the same odds of winning as Brown in 2010, if not better due to his immediate high favorability rating and the same voters who felt comfortable enough supporting Brown in 2010 coming back to decide once again.

What say you?