So, why did it happen?

[The Backlash Cometh]

I mean, what are they saying to the exit pollsters?

[SemiCharmedQuark]

1. No exit polls.

[Sebastian Doyle]

well, of course not

it's a Diebold state. Can't have exit polls that would counteract what the machines say.

[Atman]

2. There are no exit polls. Things that make you go "hmmmmm."

.

[OneBlueSky]

3. well, I for one think that voters are disallusioned with Obama . . .

and Democrats in general . . . they were expecting change, and they got more of the same . . . and it's starting to come home to roost . . . jmho, of course . . .

[The Backlash Cometh]

7. I don't think that's the case.

It's too early in the Obama term for that kind of backlash.

People have reasons for voting outside of party line. My brother, for example, although he tends to vote Democratic in presidential elections, voted Republican for the state races when he lived in New Jersey. He said that he found the party to be terribly corrupt.

I think it's a good idea to find out now what's going on, before it gets worse.

[smalll]

4. It's Martha Chokely. That's it. The mother of all bad candidates.

I'm not taking anything more out of this than that.

[The Backlash Cometh]

9. Who was behind that idea, then?

[smalll]

14. Honestly, I think part of it was just the tribal nature of Mass. politics --

In the Primary she was the only Irish in the race against various ethnics. I will also go so far as to question Emily's List -- they automatically supported Coakley in the primary, and gave her a lot of support. It's a good idea to promote women candidates. But maybe groups like Emily's List, which can be hugely influential in Dem primaries when they want to be, need to make sure they don't just support one of their own so blindly.

[The Backlash Cometh]

16. That's the answer I was looking for.

Very brave of you to step over the PC line and say something so honestly. I don't know enough about Mass politics to know that particular tidbit, but I suspect there are a lot of tidbits like that one to explain what's happened.

[Naked_Ape]

5. obvious

we, here, were too busy whining to do what needed to be done. Too disappointed that Obama hadn't converted Gitmo into a gay army honeymoon club with a public option... too damn full of ourselves to work to make it happen. Now we stand to lose it all in November.

You gonna sit there and take it? Or get off yer duff and Do something. Bitches

[KittyWampus]

6. It was the candidate's complacency.

[vicdoc]

10. $2 trillion health care bill

They wanted to send a message to Washington on the health care bill: stop trying to shove this down our throats, per Luntz focus group. It was a lot of sausage making in the open and also behind closed doors.

[The Backlash Cometh]

12. I don't know.

I would think that was pretty popular in Mass.

[The Backlash Cometh]

11. Well, then she let us all down.

[scarletwoman]

8. It happened because people want CHANGE. They didn't get change in 2008, instead they got

worsening unemployment, more foreclosures, Wall Street and Bankster bailouts, and an expanding war in Afghanistan.

They still want CHANGE. So what choice do they have except to vote for a different party than the one that failed to deliver what they want?

All the finely honed political arguments about ideological differences don't mean SHIT. People want things in this country to CHANGE. They're sick of being fucked over.

They may not have a damn clue about HOW and WHY and by WHOM they are being fucked over, they just know they're being fucked over. And when they perceive that the fucking over is still going on under the party that's in power, then they'll turn around and vote for the OTHER party -- because in our ossified two-party system, that's the ONLY option they have.

sw

[jpak]

13. Teabaggers threw Marshah in dah Habah

:puke:

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

15. Coakley had a big lead and got complacent

The same thing happened to Michael Dukakis after the 88 Dem primary. Dukakis lead in the polls then.

Never take anything for granted. Brown spent way more time on the campaign trail than Coakley and it paid off. As Tip O'Niel said all politics is local.

[The Backlash Cometh]

17. Stupid move on her part.

She let us all down.