How did Martha lose?

[bluescribbler]

I can only offer my own perspective.

I am the chair of my Ward Democratic Committee in an industrial Massachusetts city. As such, I am on many lists. E-mail, snail mail, phone numbers, you name it. My e-mail in box has been swamped with requests to sign petitions, contribute money to candidates and causes, travel to rallies, etc. DSSC, DFA, LCV, Sierra Club, Move On.org, Code Pink, Chris Dodd, Barbara Boxer, and more. You get the picture.

Less than a week after the December primary, I got a phone call. She identified herself as the Coakley Campaign coordinator for my city. She asked it I could volunteer for the campaign. Of course, I said that I would. The next time that I heard from her was little more than a week before the election. By that time, of course, polls were showing the Brown surge. :wtf: In the meantime, I saw Brown signs popping up on lawns all over the city. I only saw two Coakley signs, and one of the was homemade, :wtf: We did have two rallies here in the week before the election, one featuring Governor Patrick and one of our State Reps, the other featuring our Congressman, State Senator, the other State Rep, and the Pres of the Mass AFL-CIO. No sign of Martha, though. :wtf: In fact, to the best of my knowledge, Martha Coakley never showed her face in this city. :wtf: In the end, she lost my city by 23 votes.:argh:

The "damn liberal media", and many in the blogosphere are trying to make this a referendum on President Obama, and perhaps it has become such. But I can't help but remember a great Massachusetts pol who said, "All politics is local." He also learned early on that you had to ask for the votes if you wanted them. It seems, from my limited experience, that Martha Coakley has yet to learn those lessons. I can only hope that the next candidate for the US Senate will learn those lessons.

[politicasista]

1. Because she is a protege

of Kerry (said a poster :eyes:) because he went on vacation and didn't fight and destroy Bush (never mind the rest of the Dems who were M.I.A.). :sarcasm:

Oops, but wait! She is really a Clinton protege, He endorsed her in the primaries and she endorsed HRC in her the 08 primaries.

[Festivito]

2. Sounds to me like the era of the ill-informed voter.

I wonder though, if you don't mind. Did ill-informed voters think that Brown was the liberal because of his naked photo shoot. The outrage over the old photo could have been taken as prudes taken as conservatives offering a backlash of sympathy for something dismissable to MA voters. Just as one part of this troubling loss.

Whatcha think?

[JI7]

3. i think because it was Mass it might have helped, but if he runs somewhere like the South

or even midwest where the conservatives are more conservative than in northeast it could hurt him.

we can maybe use it to our advantage among those voters also. show them what has become of the Republican party and force them to demand their own republicans not support him.

[bluescribbler]

5. Not sure the photos had any effect

Nobody really made a big deal about them. There was a brief splash in the press, but then, nothing.

[DailyGrind51]

4. She acted like campaigning was beneath her.

[The Backlash Cometh]

6. From all the accounts that I've been hearing, she wasn't a likeable

person. She reminds me of my daughter's last coach, who also lives in Mass. She has had the coaching position for so long that she has an arrogant attitude about her. Very dismissive.

People do stupid things when they think they've reached a certain zenith. Look at John Edward.