The Massachusetts US Senate Special Election

(I'm making this thread for all of the random stuff about the election I read that dont deserve their own thread.)

Like this....



... let's see how the teabaggers respond to that one. Off to teapartynation.com I go!

some populism being used by politicians.

The more populism wins, the more populism has to be included in promises and, eventually, policy. In a few hundred years, before you know it, you've got government for the people ;)

..... to not recognize the importance of it.

an entire "nation" of teabaggers was born from it

.... that and the fact that a black dude is sitting in the White House. :)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x126226

Clearly, the race is very close, though.

It will be interesting to see what they come up with, relative to last weekend that showed Brown up by one.

By the way, did you hear what Coakley said about religious faith and emergency room care? I know what she meant and agree 100% but... it was a stupid for her to fall into the trap. If she wins, and I still think she will, it will ONLY be in spite of the atrocious campaign she ran.

.... was high on analytical answers and low on good old fashioned political spin.

It gave the Democrat a boost by about 12-13 points in NJ.

I am not surprised, though. Suffolk sucks.

Rasmussen had MA supporting the healthcare reform by 51 % and this seems a lot more in line. Coakley's favorability was 58 % (which is in line with basically every single poll).

This seems a very strange poll.

It seems like a nail biter.

All other questions and approval/disapproval ratings for various pols show that Brown has the people snowed. They disapprove of Palin by 60%, yet Brown is pretty much a male version and his approval is at 57%.

Brown is. The people who are saying they are likely to vote are disproportionately Republican due to the greater enthusiasm there.

A very contrarian point of view is that this shows that there is really more upside available to Coakley as there are proportionately more Democrats and left leaning Independents who are not included than Republicans and Conservative leaning Independents. The question is whether Obama, Clinton, Kerry and any other influential Democrats could motivate them to vote - if only for the party.

next Tuesday.

Stand With Martha!:patriot::patriot:

http://www.marthacoakley.com/

* As of early this morning, Vicky Kennedy's "Let's Do It For Ted" email appeal for Martha Coakley's Senate campaign in Massachusetts had raised over $520,000 in less than a day. By mid-morning, sources tell me the total cleared $600,000.

* On a related note, Coakley won six endorsements yesterday from newspaper editorial boards in Massachusetts, including the Boston Globe, the state's largest paper.

* Also in Massachusetts, Republican Scott Brown has positioned himself as a regular guy, driving a truck with 200,000 miles on it, but we learned yesterday that he has nearly as many homes as John McCain.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/

:patriot:~Stand With Martha~:patriot:
http://www.marthacoakley.com/

"FWIW, been doing some other research which shows that nat'l trends + PVI is really only very weakly predictive of individual Senate races."
http://twitter.com/fivethirtyeight/status/7777292750

What is "PVI"?

Ugh... my stomach.

White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel has been in touch with Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley's Senate campaign about a possible stop in the state by President Obama, AP reports.

More: "The White House has shown increasing alarm about the race, with Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel placing calls to top Massachusetts Democrats to assess Coakley's chances and weigh the costs and benefits of a potential Obama visit.

"Former President Bill Clinton was making two stops in Massachusetts Friday on behalf of Coakley, while former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani was to stop in Boston to tout Brown's anti-terror credentials.

"A Coakley loss was long viewed as unthinkable among local political analysts and observers. The state not only has a Democratic governor, but overwhelming Democratic majorities in its House and Senate, as well as an all-Democratic congressional delegation."

http://www.politico.com/politico44/perm/0110/weighing_a_visit_29a09bd3-313d-4377-9146-8b176efe8302.html

my first suggestion is Michelle

https://twitter.com/mikeallen/status/7800442278

(as I mentioned above, Rahm called around to see if it was worth risking some of the President's capitol to take the trip ... apparently the answer was "yes")

Steve Benen..

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/

<snip>

FRIDAY'S CAMPAIGN ROUND-UP.... Today's installment of campaign-related news items that wouldn't generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers.

* A new Suffolk University poll in Massachusetts shows Scott Brown (R) leading Martha Coakley (D) by four, 50% to 46%. Independent Joe Kennedy was at 3%. A Research 2000 poll released a few hours earlier showed Coakley up by eight, 49% to 41%, but the Suffolk poll is being taken more seriously, and the panic in Democratic circles nationwide is palpable.

* Vicki Kennedy filmed a new television ad for Coakley, which was released this morning and will be on Massachusetts TV sets soon.

* President Obama filmed a video message and a new robocall message on Coakley's behalf. There are also unconfirmed rumors about a possible presidential visit to the Bay State before Tuesday.

* Ten Kennedy Jr. is also appealing to voters, yesterday releasing an emotional email message in support of Coakley.

:patriot:~STAND WITH MARTHA~:patriot:
http://www.marthacoakley.com/

.... which is DOWN one point from yesterday. ;)

(Current Mass Sen) "Kirk Can't Vote After Tuesday"
http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/barnes-massachusetts-senatorial-race-and-obamacare

(the idea being that if Brown wins, the Dems will stall his swearing in until the HCR bill is passed. I'd imagine the President and the rest of the Dem powers that be have a few tricks up THEIR sleeves as well though.)

In similar Senate races in the past, the candidate in Coakley's position has outperformed her polls by 2.3 pts on average.
http://twitter.com/fivethirtyeight/status/7872550181

... yesterday ALONE.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0110/OfA_flexes.html?showall

Which someone would do a MA POLL UPDATE THREAD and link this to it.

This way we don't have to keep searching all over the place.

... weren't even from Mass.

http://twitter.com/daveweigel/status/7874979725

Cross post-GD

TomCADem (1000+ posts) Sun Jan-17-10 08:38 PM
Original message

Sun Chronicle Endorses Coakley - Notes Brown's Militant Anti-Gay Stance and Support of Torture

Here is a dicussion of where the candidates stand on the issues, and Brown's mandate on issues like abortion, torture, gay rights, and health care.

http://www.thesunchronicle.com/articles/2010/01/17/opin...

Our choice of Coakley may be surprising to some. Her major opponent is state Sen. Scott Brown, R-Wrentham, a local figure we have endorsed in the past for state Senate, and he is supported by a minority on our editorial board.

There's much to be said for endorsing a local candidate. However, we have an insurmountable problem. To paraphrase words Brown applied to his Democratic opponent, "he's a nice man, but he's wrong on all the issues."

Brown initially took a militant stand against gay marriage, which we have consistently supported. While he has softened his position some, his outlook on equal rights in a private matter remains worrisome.

After voicing support in this space for health care reform, we can't very well back Brown when he is promising to submarine national health care on his own as "the 41st Republican senator." We are left instead to wonder how he sees himself as a fitting successor to Sen. Edward Kennedy, who made health care reform a signature issue, while planning to spoil the best chance for reform the nation has ever had. Senate candidate Martha Coakley waits for the start of a taped debate at the WBZ-TV studios in Boston. Coakley is running to fill the seat vacated by the late Sen. Edward Kennedy, but is crafting a campaign largely free of the Kennedy mystique. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File) After making our view plain that the United States does better not to lower itself to the level of nations who use torture in pursuit of information, we cannot endorse Brown when he issues statements that water boarding is not torture and should be employed by our nation.

We have no doubts about Brown's patriotism and commend him for his three decades of service in the National Guard and rank as a lieutenant colonel in the Judge Advocate General Corps. This, however, hardly translates into foreign policy expertise. The thin skin he has shown at times, notably at a King Philip Regional High School assembly, would be a handicap in the Senate chambers. He may have a desirably harder line than Coakley on fiscal issues, but his extreme positions on choice, gender, and other social questions are out of step for our pluralistic society.

Coakley is pro-health care reform, with qualifications regarding abortion amendments. Her jobs and economy platform is well-thought-out and detailed, while Brown hangs his hat on a return to free enterprise. She is firmly committed to same-sex marriage rights.

Coakley has established herself as a leader. Her work on the foreclosure crisis in Massachusetts is evidence that she is ready to serve the people's interests while dealing with the big players in Washington.

She deserves your vote on Tuesday.

The third candidate in the special election, Joseph L. Kennedy, is running on the Libertarian ticket. He is even more ardently opposed to health care reform than Brown. Kennedy is not ready for prime time and his Libertarian no-government-interference stance on the economy is a non-starter in Washington. He is given virtually zero chance of winning, but we are happy to see him in the face. Third parties' heads need to stay above water in Massachusetts in order to offer an alternative to Democrat and Republican platforms too often crafted to please their more extreme wings.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7492394

"Brown rally overflowing--2 extra locations opened."

"Speaker in Brown overflow room: "I'm 65 and my grandkids want me to LIVE!"

"Brown's message of the day: Sports are awesome."

"No ideology whatsoever in Brown's speech. Baseball, underdog, truck, etc."

http://twitter.com/daveweigel

... (and he would know)

http://twitter.com/billburton44/status/7878825172

"The President is in MA today because he believes Martha Coakley is the right person for the job and indeed will be the next senator from MA."

... note this is not a POLL but one of Nate's famous projections. But he urges caution as you read the numbers...

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2010/01/fivethityeight-still-rating.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

So . . . . :bounce:

I'm not confident, but he's given me a glimmer of hope.

...because if the gop can take MA now, we are well and truly screwed this fall...

Wonderful what bi-partisanship gets you isn't it?

"My field work among Boston liberals finds a lot of folks who have been scared into voting on Tues; also baffled as to how Coakley did this."

http://twitter.com/daveweigel/status/7891750277

... the TN liberals are pretty baffled too. ;)

(but I'll GLADLY take a "scared" vote over no vote at all. And as I've said before, maybe this awakening from our 11/4/08 induced slumber will be enough to awaken the party and keep us awake until November.)

..... well duh!

http://senatus.wordpress.com/2010/01/18/massachusetts-senate-coakley-questions-accuracy-of-recent-polling-data/

... am I to presume that Boston is more left leaning?

"Boston turnout thru 9am was 23,667, or 6.6%. Mayoral final thru 9am was 18,339, or 5.2%. Boston turnout relative to elsewhere is key today"

http://bit.ly/72DdQv

... which is what you'd expect them to say.

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2010/01/19/2178073.aspx?ocid=twitter

we see that the news of the longer lines is coming from a Brown campaign adviser who is probably just talking out of his ass to discourage Dems from coming out to vote

C'mon Mass...GOTV for Coakley

.... I thought it came from a Coakley adviser .... I thought them saying "folks are just more enthused for Scott" was a bit odd. :)

would not have posted it if I weren't confused .... sorry, will try to go back and edit it.

"Clerk in Barnstable (Kennedy country) estimating turnout at 60% Heavy turnout at Pct. #13 (where Teddy used to vote)"

http://twitter.com/BogsWBZ/status/7951680225

.... the Democratic party may have failed Ted Kennedy but his neighbors wont!

... my two blogger Twitter-crushes break down today's election (via webcam) ..... purrrrrr

http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/25372

That's what one of the voters I called said to me. Then he hung up on me.

Others who answered were for Brown.

The rest were answering machines.

I hope I got a bad sample.

I'm still holding out hope for Coakley...

.... my progressive friend who doesn't even agree with me that "Mah-tha" did a poor job with the campaign is TIRED of the phone calls and ready for "both parties to leave her alone."

"This is how we do it in Boston: Fought the cold, wet, messy weather to vote in an old, overheated school and then I ate a whoopie pie."
http://twitter.com/miguelina/status/7955474812

gotta love that attitude! (She voted for Coakley btw)

Grrrrr .... this is NOT acceptable!

http://twitter.com/marcambinder

.... which means that barring a landslide, we're gonna talking about this for a while. (Minnesota and Florida ring a bell?)

http://senatus.wordpress.com/2010/01/19/massachusetts-senate-secretary-of-state-wont-purposely-delay-swearing-in-process/

(another possible explanation for the State of the Union being 8 days away IMO.)

.... you know, the underpants bomber? The event the President has a 60% approval rating for the way he handled it. :eyes:

I'm not saying the WH is blameless in all of this, far from it, but to cite THAT as a reason why Coakley is losing shows how clueless her organization seems to be.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0110/Coakley_adviser_memo_DC_Dems_faled_Coakley.html?showall

Are they going to blame the earthquake too?

.... when YOU are the one suffering but you still find joy in watching the winners fight one another?



lol.... but Brown doesn't want anyone to know that either!

.... oh ...... my stomach.

http://twitter.com/marcambinder/status/7962742020