If you look at CNN’s exit polling, for Massachusetts in November 2008, 72% of people were somewhat or very worried about health care costs. Of those, Obama received 70% of the vote. Think how badly that message has been mangled here in Massachusetts.
You can take this at two levels. On the national front, Democrats have completely blown the message. Locally, the failure of the Coakley campaign to recognize and address the discontent was a monumental failure. You play right into Brown’s campaign when you say – this is the guy that’s going to kill health care, and their polling finds out that’s a winner.
I can find this article from Ezra Klein, talking about the savings people would get from the Senate bill, and the savings that have occurred in Massachusetts, in about a minute. A big part of whatever re-grouping is getting the Democrats on message.
