By Matt Viser
Globe Staff / January 21, 2010
Democrats were feeling lots of things yesterday, none of them very good, as they woke up to a new political reality: They had lost the Senate election, given up a seat they had owned for six decades, and were forced to accept that a Republican, Scott Brown, is headed to Washington, D.C.
What went wrong? A lot, according to a portrait of Democrat Martha Coakley’s campaign painted by people who either closely observed it or were involved in some fashion.
They described a campaign that was too sure of its own success, that waited too long to call in the cavalry, that made key missteps, including focusing on abortion at the expense of the economy, and that did little to court voters in the communities that led Governor Deval Patrick and President Obama to huge victories.
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The lapses were particularly noticeable in minority communities, traditionally bastions of Democratic votes, which did not turn out in high numbers Tuesday.
“She came in late, at the last minute, and people were frustrated,’’ said one Democratic activist, who, like most people interviewed, agreed to talk without being named. “They’re not happy with that kind of campaigning. If you get in there early, people feel respected.’’
In addition, people familiar with the campaign say, Coakley aides made no concerted effort to involve her three primary rivals or their networks and included the Kennedy family in the campaign only after the Kennedys themselves pushed the issue.
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Some people involved in the campaign said Coakley did not appear to have a clear sense of who her constituency was, while Brown clearly identified his voters, including many independents and even Democrats who chafed at the party’s policies in Washington. He campaigned outside Fenway Park and Bruins hockey games and surrounded himself with everyman sports heroes such as Curt Schilling and Doug Flutie.
By many accounts, the Coakley campaign lost the television ad war, too. Brown had put up two ads, both of which drew attention, before Coakley took out her first on Jan. 6, less than two weeks before the election.
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http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/01/21/coakley_aides_paint_portrait_of_missteps_on_campaign_trail/ 
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