Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

Martha Coakely has pulled papers.

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  I would like to express my lack of support for this campaign, non-interest in volunteering and strong wish that another candidate get in the race.

http://marthacoakley.com/blog/…

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  1. So it’s reasonable to support her for re-election.

    <

    p>Now, hopefully, Martha’s got a little more campaign experience and wiser campaign advisers.  If any Democrat has the initiative to compete with her, then they should try and we’ll see who is more compelling to primary voters.  Competition can make candidates better.

    <

    p>Full disclosure:  I thought Capuano would have been a better candidate for Senate, and a better Senator.  Capuano certainly would not have been assimilated into the Washington Republicans as Scott Borg has.

    • and that Cap and his supporters sat on their hands after the primary (as did most institutional Dems who were just waiting for the “sure thing” to be over)…plenty of blame to go around far beyond Coakley and her inexperienced Campaign Manager Kevin Conroy. And since Cap touted himself as the Insider’s Insider-dealmakin’ beltway boy, he would have been easier for the talk show assassins to go after and destroy.

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      p>Martha Coakley is a great Attorney General…considering the weaknesses of this year’s dance card…we need her to run for re-election and win.

      • Cap and his supporters sat on their hands after the  primary

         
        That is funny!
        I (Capuano campaign staff member) remember setting up and running a phone bank in Marshfield for her.  
        I also have hundreds of emails from Capuano staff, organizers and volunteers that did the same!

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        p>HLPeary what did you do?

        <

        p>If you where involved in the final days of the campaign?
        You would have seen the OBAMA, CAPUANO and KHAZEI campaigns where actively working their ass off to save the COAKLEY campaign.  

      • First, Joel is saying he’ll support Martha because she is a good AG–but because he has the audacity to say Cap would have been a better general election candidate, you go nuclear and throw Cap and all “his supporters” under the bus, as well as “institutional Dems” and Coakley’s campaign manager.  Then, to top it off, you take a whack at the entire ticket and tout Martha as the foundation of the ticket.

        <

        p>I have a lot more to say about this, but I’d rather keep it civil and refrain from participating in the circular firing squad.

      • Bowes3 is a friend and I was inundated with his exhortations to come out and phone bank and canvass.  When he says that he set up and ran a phone bank, he doesn’t mean one night.  He means that he set up and recruited volunteers for an ongoing phone bank.

        <

        p>I drove to Newton to take part in a phone bank and Alan Khazei was there on the phones with the rest of us.  

        <

        p>The many phone banks that I set up and volunteered at were filled with people who had supported Mike Capuano.  From the time the primary ended I was ready to go and do whatever was needed for the Coakley campaign.  When I wasn’t recruiting volunteers or phone banking I was putting together extra issues of the Democratic Dispatch.  

        • I am another Capuano supporter who witnessed, directly and in person, what Kate is saying here.

          <

          p>I liked Capuano’s stand on civil liberties, his antiwar record, and that he is an aggressive fighter. To get through campaigns, get elected, and pass important legislation ( not naming post offices) is a long, hard slog, and aggressive attitudes make it more likely that the politician will get through to achieve victory.

          <

          p>I spent so many hours trying to get Capuano victory in the primary. I also volunteered to elect Martha Coakley in the general election.

          <

          p>I actually got multiple calls asking me to volunteer for Martha Coakley at different locations. In the city where I volunteered, Coakley and Brown’s percentages of the vote are exactly the opposite of what they were statewide.

          <

          p>I am a witness to not only Kate Donaghue working hard for Coakley, I saw other people I met at Capuano headquarters working hard for Coakley.

          <

          p>Every one of them worked hard because they, and I, knew all that was at stake.

          <

          p>IN every election, the candidate must fight back daily. He or she must answer the general public’s concerns in a way that resonates. And it must be the concerns of frightened people who are afraid about how they are going to survive.
          Candidates must respond EARLY and forcefully, to prevent the opponents from winning public opinion.

          <

          p>Democrats will not have a chance to tell the public, “Vote for us because we are rational, sane people, unlike those crazy ranters from out there.” Republicans are running candidates that seem “mainstream” and “normal” to the uninformed.

          <

          p>The following members of the US House already have challengers, and must fight back EARLY AND STRONG, or they will not win

          <

          p>1. Jim McGovern (D- Worcester, MA)
          2. John Tierney (D- Salem, MA)
          3. Patrick Kennedy (D- Portsmouth, RI)

        • I was charged with coordinating one of the towns on the South Shore for Coakley.  My motto after the primary was “Opponents on Tuesday, teammates on Wednesday.”.  The Capuano supporters that I came into contact with immediately took to that and my workforce tripled as a result.   Phone banks, union canvassing, visibilities, they were there at every turn.

          <

          p>The real problem was that the candidate was handled astonishgly poorly.  She got caught off guard in debates, made several gaffes in interviews, was not quick enough on her feet to recover, and married herself to a health care bill that Mass voters do not support.

      • Look, I know you were a passionate Coakley supporter from before day one of this US Senate race. As was I.

        <

        p>But face facts, HL. Our candidate blew it. Yeah, she probably (read: certainly) didn’t have the right campaign manager. But it is the candidate’s job to fire and replace the campaign manager when need be. By keeping Conroy et al on the job as a 35-point lead morphed into a 5-point deficit, Martha Coakley sealed her own fate.

        <

        p>As a diehard Coakley supporter, I anticipated- and expected- a more vigorous campaign than we got. The candidate and her senior management team let us all down.

        <

        p>Blaming anyone else, like Rep. Capuano or his team for Coakley’s crap campaign and subsequent defeat, is nothing but sour grapes. It wasn’t Mike Capuano’s job to get Martha Coakley elected. It was Martha Coakley’s and Kevin Conroy’s.

        <

        p>

        • But, I find it difficult to believe anything but the fact that Conroy ran the campaign Coakley wanted.

          <

          p>Honestly, without being behind the scenes, I couldn’t tell  you whether Conroy should have been fired or if he should have resigned in protest. It does no good to run a campaign when the candidate isn’t willing to get out there and campaign.  

      • You mean I imagined the two and a half hours holding a Coakley sign in the freezing, raining dark on election night?  I fantasized about OFA calls to tired, over-called voters?

        <

        p>Yeesh…my dreams are usually more pleasant than all that.

      • First, pointing fingers much? Second, some of the most active people in the general election campaign that I knew were originally Capuano supporters. Third, I knew of many Capuano supporters who were turned away by the Coakley campaign when they asked how they could help, who said they were willing to go door to door and were told ‘we’re not doing that,’ asked to hold a sign somewhere instead. So many people directed these personal stories to me – and I even have one or two of my own experiences – that it’s just not a coincidence.

        <

        p>I don’t get why you’re fighting this battle, instead of looking ahead, but if you really want to get stuck on that race… let me just say, re your opinion that Capuano supporters were to blame; That dog won’t hunt.  At some point, Coakley has to accept responsibility for the horror-movie of a campaign she ran. It’s no one’s fault, but her’s. I hope someone does run against her in the primary, because if she can’t run a better campaign than she did last time, she may not even be able to win reelection.  

  2. Any other Dem would need 500 delegate signatures at this point, though that’s cetrainly not impossible to get.

    • The right political moves after a defeat that damages the party and embarrassed the president is to sit down.  

          • because she is not doing a satisfactory job as AG?

            <

            p>Or because her lackluster campaign skills (to be generous) will put the AG seat in danger of a flip to the GOP if she is re-nominated?

            <

            p>right now, I don’t see either.

            • If Coakley want to be AG she need to hit the campaign trail.  
              If she does not…

              <

              p>The democratic activist should draft someone.  

  3.  I would like to express my lack of support for this campaign, non-interest in volunteering and strong wish that another candidate get in the race.
    http://marthacoakley.com/blog/…
    What do you think?

    <

    p>I think you’re being childish, petty and spiteful.  

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