Charity Leader Wins Endorsement From Boston Globe in Senate Run

Alan Khazei, the veteran national-service advocate who is running a long-shot campaign for the late Sen. Edward Kennedy’s Senate seat in Massachusetts, won a major coup on Sunday — endorsement by The Boston Globe for the Democratic nomination.

The Globe praised Mr. Khazei’s efforts to build grass-roots networks to push for change, saying “this entrepreneurial model of progressive politics offers hope for real improvements.”

Mr. Khazei faces three opponents in the Democratic primary on December 8, with Martha Coakley, the state’s attorney general, leading in the polls. Mr. Khazei, the co-founder of City Year, the youth national-service corps, has been trailing his competitors, but the newspaper’s endorsement could give his campaign a boost.

“At the moment, [Mr. Khazei] is more of an impassioned amateur than a seasoned pro,” the Globe writes. “But his energy, idealism, and intelligence — combined with a grounded sense of how the Senate works — is unusual, and gives voters a chance to support a new, home-grown approach to politics.”

Mr. Khazei is on a leave of absence from his post as head of Be the Change, in Boston, a nonprofit group he created to get citizens involved in solving social problems.