My opinion: Martha thought she was entitled, Scott worked for it

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

Mass is actually very blue collar at it's heart and I think this was the subtext of the election.

The voters rewarded the harder worker.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

1. Thank you

That's the point I've been trying to make all night long.

:headbang: :yourock:

[Bolo Boffin]

2. #1 reason why the election went the way it did.

By a couple of lengths.

[The_Casual_Observer]

3. They vote for men with giant heads.

The bigger & more oblong, the better.

[lame54]

36. George Lopez for Senator

[truedelphi]

4. Do you know if it is true that she actually took her vacation

Over the last few weeks, like Olbermann and Maddow have been saying tonight?

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

6. Here:

http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/76973-vacation-blunder-looms-large-but-didnt-sink-coakley


Vacation blunder looms large but didn't sink Coakley
By Aaron Blake - 01/19/10 10:21 PM ET

Martha Coakley’s New Year’s vacation may reign as one of the costliest political blunders of all time. But it is hardly the whole story.

With all kinds of blame being shoved on Coakley’s shoulders, her campaign fought back by saying it warned national Democrats about the peril that lay ahead.

Its claim is undercut, though, by the fact that Coakley took a weeklong vacation between the primary, Dec. 8, and the general election on Tuesday.

Vacations during campaigns are generally seen as a no-no, even if just for appearance, before an election. In Coakley’s case, she came back and found herself in a completely different race, and she never recovered.

[truedelphi]

43. Thanks Mayberry. Good to know.

Maddow is someone I trust, but in the hubbub of election night, it is possible to get things wrong.

[quiller4]

8. Yes. She took a vacation over Christmas and was out of the country.

[Mimosa]

27. What? She couldn't even stay in USA? n/t

[Kaleva]

5. Ted didn't take anything for granted and busted his rear.

[Bleacher Creature]

45. He handwrote condolence cards to the families of MA soldiers.

Right until the end. She couldn't be bothered to shake hands.

[quiller4]

7. That is true. I phoned blue coller voters for her GOTV and got

very discouraged.

[Imajika]

9. Yes, I think your right..

I think you've pegged it.

He worked hard for the people's votes. I am sure, in her own way, she did as well, but it just didn't come off that way I guess.

Shame, the more I saw of her the more I liked her.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

14. I lived in a small blue collar Democratic state for a long time

Rhode Island to be specific.

It's all about the personal touch and showing up in the local coffee shop. You could be Atilla the Hun, but if you show up in the coffee shop and are a "regular guy" the people love you. And that stuff cuts party boundaries. "I liked him". That's all it takes.

It's not rocket science. Get out and touch the people and ACT like you care. It helps if you actually care, but that's another story.

[Jennicut]

15. New England politics.

I am from Connecticut and people are unhappy with Dodd because he seems out of touch. Coakley was coming off as out of touch. I think Brown is phoney but it is easy to pull the wool over people's eyes.

[Mimosa]

20. Phoebe, I was from Looziana and that works everywhere...

IF the candidate is really connecting with the PEOPLE.

[treestar]

26. what pathetic people

content to be uninformed and willing to be charmed by one who will vote against their interests.

[politicasista]

10. The Jack & Jill Politics bloggers let her have it over this

As well as they should and it was not pretty. :(

[auburnblu]

11. As opposed to standing outside Fenway Park? In the cold? Shaking hands?

She had some quotes that will long be remembered as ways to lose a race that was impossible to lose.

[Cha]

12. Well, we'll see just how Hard brown works for the

people of Mass, won't we?

[ChimpersMcSmirkers]

13. Interesting blog about this...

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/adventures-in-old-age/201001/martha-coakley-the-picture-psychological-entitlement

[rvablue]

16. I would have to agree with you. No time to go on vacay when you are running for the Senate

and the election is in little more than month.

[JaneQPublic]

17. Martha reminds me of Kathleen Kennedy Townsend in Maryland

KKT, Bobby Kennedy's oldest kid and Maryland's then LT. Gov., lost her race for Gov. against Bob Ehrlich because she thought it was in the bag, what with her being a Kennedy in a blue state. Ehrlich was Maryland's first GOP Gov since Agnew.

[Bleacher Creature]

48. Great comparison.

I'm a fellow Marylander and couldn't agree more. Ehrlich (and STEELE) had absolutely no business winning in 2002, and yet, KKT ran such an awful campaign. Her decision to select a a guy who had recently been a Republican as her running mate was a giant slap in the face to the base and exemplified her inept campaign.

[TheWraith]

18. Thank you for that spot-on analysis. nt

[kayla9170]

19. Truth is..........They just wanted to stop the "Black" guy

Power.........Period. The "Black" guy being President Obama.......

[Mimosa]

21. Oh, that's BS. Just stupid excuses.

Massachusetts people are not racist pigs.

They are generally smart moderates who see through flim flam.

[kayla9170]

22. Stop the "Black" guy and his agenda......DONE!

The truth hurts....

[emilyg]

23. That is not "truth".

[kayla9170]

24. Keep telling yourself that......

It might make some of the Democrats here at DU feel a little better. In the same aspect, President Obama agenda is done and that is just how the Caucasian folks of MA wanted it.

[Mimosa]

28. As long as some confuse class and race the Dems will alienate the majority.

It's always a bad idea to HATE the citizen/voters.

[Rebubula]

46. No...

...the stupid hurts...your post is painful.

There are MANY real instances of racism in this country (and it ain't just white vs black) - continuing to blame all of this on perceived racism is petty and foolhardy.

Martha lost for the very reason proffered in the OP.

But if blaming all these problems on racist people helps you feel better (and avoid real truths), please continue to do so...the rest of the adults will work on real solutions.

[fujiyama]

29. That's just why umm....

the black guy won the state by a good 20+ points.

Now, I'm not saying parts of Mass. aren't racist, but this is pretty silly.

[kayla9170]

30. Are you talking about Deval Patrick??

Last time I heard, his approval ratings in MA was in the 30th percent area. Wonder why? Oh, never mind.........

[scrinmaster]

39. Obama won Mass. 62% to 36%

They didn't have a problem with him then. Maybe they just thought Brown was the better candidate.

[treestar]

25. So they put that above electing the person who would promote their interests more?

fucking Puritans.

whoever works the fuckin' hardest is always the best, right?

America is hung up on that.

[jsmirman]

31. I'm infuriated

Fuck everyone. Fuck them for running this impossibly stupid candidate.

Fuck her and her campaign for packing almost as many laughs and gaffes and near-impossible to believe missteps into a much shorter space of time than McCain had to give us all the giggles comedic euthanasia could offer.

I'm at law school and I don't have time for this shit. Great to know that having worked my ass off to do my part in getting this country on a better track before I stepped into this hell, I'll be returning to a world where the idiots have once again won.

I'm sorry to be overdramatic, but really? Fucking really? Are you fucking serious? I had more fucking charisma than that woman when I was TWELVE FUCKING YEARS OLD.

Please don't dismiss this as troll bait. I am pissed and it's pretty hard not to be pissed right now.

The other side is as astonishingly retarded as we could ever hope for - Glenn Beck's sleepover date with Commandette Retard was sad, pitiful, grotesque, creepy, bizarre...

We're really going to manage to lose to sad, pitiful, grotesque, creepy, and bizarre. We needed something that was at least better on health care and how the fuck is we supposed to keep the peace now?

I'm pissed at you, too, Obama. All the things I want to say to you, my new critical race and feminism theory friends would be so very disapproving of. But you should be pissed at yourself. If it isn't about looking in the mirror and finding your inner man, then whatever. Find your balls, find your ovaries, find a second x chromosome or a y one hanging out up in there, I hate so much about Hillary as a person (like most of the rest of her), but she would have cut a bitch by now.

Great campaign, brutal start. Please forgive my irrationality, I'm just so fucking pissed and I want to beat on somebody until they fight back and then say, see, get up off the mat, motherfucker!!!!

:rant:

Feel free to blast me, just let my irrational speaking of my piece stand please. I stand in awe of the ability of folks ability to fuck shit up.

[FrenchieCat]

32. There was a primary you know.....

Massachusetts Democrats did have a choice.....
the Party faithful are the ones who vote in primaries.
They put her up there.

[jsmirman]

33. Wouldn't even know

I don't even know. I'm busy fighting for my academic life here so I can make the world better when I'm done.

That follows, though. Only hackery could have led to that level of hackery being elevated. She made Kerry look like a rockstar and he's like, the most boring man on earth. Maddening.

[truedelphi]

37. Same thing happened here in California first time that Schwartzenegger ran

Diane Feinstein saw to it that the charismatic Steve Westly was S___ canned, even though he was clearly the voters' preference. He was not the party's preference, and so Di's choice, a Party machine favorite, Angelides, was nominated as Party Candidate Uber Alles.

Angelides had the presence and buying power of a wet rat. No body I knew liked him. Combine that with the fact that "Ahnold" was on a "First name" basis with many politically illiterate voters who "knew" him from his movies, and it came as no surprise that Angelides finished a distant second.

But hey, this maneuver saved Di Fi from having to shove Westly aside, were he to have become a popular Democratic governor. Now that she has "officially" decided to run for governor, the coast is clear. (Or so she thinks - I see no difference between her and the Repugs.) The San Franciscio Chronicle already carries articles about what a great governor she would be, etc.

[Retrograde]

41. Second time, actually

the last gubernatorial election. The Democratic primary picked Angelides over upstart Westly. Anelides then ran a lack-luster campaign - if he ran one at all, it wasn't very obvious from up here - and Ahnold won his re-election.

[truedelphi]

44. Ooops, you are right. Funny how anything that happened during the

Bush years now seems like such a blur.

I will try to sink your facts into my grey matter.

[madibella]

34. As a resident of Massachusetts

it was impossible to avoid the Elect Scott Brown machine that was running on all cylinders. We received 10-15 calls daily, passed by countless signs (strategically placed on "public" spots in many cases) and even our computers were inundated with Elect Scott Brown pay-per-click ads.
There was no avoiding it. I think the GOP got what they paid for.

[Justice]

35. Coakley lost because she was a poor candidate.

Who was her mentor - Tom Reilly. He was the DA before her, then she jumped into his seat when he ran for AG. When he ran for Governor, she ran for AG. Look up what happened to him in his run for governor. She was always a prosecutor - she would say what she wanted and you would disagree, but how could you push back, she had the leverage.

People didn't like her. She has an odd accent and manner of speaking. Very pixielike, coy and not very plain spoken.

The primary was ridiculous, it became 3 men versus a woman. Coakley made it all about being a woman. She got what she built up.

The media ate up the general election - ratings, ratings, ratings. She faltered, they exposed her mistakes.

Apparently, a few weeks ago in Politico there was a story about how Scott Brown, guy with a truck, owns 5 properties, including one in Aruba. That never made it into the MA media. Yesterday, the national media was saying that was Coakley's fault - she didn't do her opposition research.

[uponit7771]

38. +1 ***COAKLEY LITERALLY WENT ON VACATION DURING A SPECIAL ELECTION WITHOUT DAILY TRACKING!!*****

[AspenRose]

40. Yep

It's an insult to the memory of the Kennedy family to think you are entitled and don't have to work for anything.

In spite of their wealth, the Kennedys have worked their asses off for the people for decades. And everyone knows it.

[TayTay]

42. That is exactly so

I am often puzzled by the outside image of MA people. Most of us live in modest housing, send our kids to public schools and work hard for a living. We are not trust-fund babies or all Hahvid grads.

The voters rewarded the one who worked for it. Exactly so.

[avaistheone1]

47. No way. This election was about punishing the Democrats

for not performing for the people.

The economic issues are too important for the people of Massachusetts to be concerned about who was the hardest worker. That is utter nonsense. I am speaking as person who grew up in Massachusetts, and was involved in politics there for decades.