Open Thread: Massachusett(e)s Election
A couple of links to get you going:
Jim Treacher compiles the Coakley gaffes.
Zogby predicts a Coakley victory. Allahpundit quips: “That’s actually the most convincing pro-Brown poll news yet.” Heh.
Legal Insurrection blog will be liveblogging today. I’m quite sure Allahpundit will be liveblogging this evening.
How do you know the White House thinks Coakley will lose? They’re now saying the election isn’t about ObamaCare:
Even before the polls opened, White House officials sought to blunt the narrative that the race was a referendum on the president’s health-care initiative, in part by arguing that Massachusetts already has universal coverage.
“Massachusetts is completely unique, because the health reform law passed a few years ago,” White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer said. “It makes it an imperfect example and impossible to extrapolate.”
You just keep telling yourself that.
[UPDATE: A wonderful case study in anti-Brown, pro-Coakley bias at the New York Times, courtesy of Matt Welch, here.]
Comment away.
UPDATE: The quote of the day may be this from Scott Brown: “Unbelievable. The leader of the free world is talking about my truck.”
Courage.
Dr. K (eca563) — 1/19/2010 @ 7:06 amThe New York Times is appalled at those ungrateful Massachusettes voters.
After Career as Their Advocate, Coakley May Face Voters’ Wrath
Even during a fierce campaign for Senate, Martha Coakley speaks with quiet fervor, a serious woman who has been arguing issues since she was a standout on her Western Massachusetts high school debate team.
Ms. Coakley, the state’s attorney general, gained international recognition as a methodical county prosecutor during the 1997 trial of Louise Woodward, a British au pair convicted of killing a baby boy in her care. Her composed television appearances helped her become the first woman elected district attorney in Middlesex County, the state’s most populous, a year later. In 2006, just as easily, she swept the race for attorney general. Since then, she has won settlements from Boston’s Big Dig contractors and from Wall Street firms that engaged in deceptive practices.
A straightforward progressive on issues from abortion rights to same-sex marriage to the environment, Ms. Coakley, 56, has said she will be the 60th vote in the Senate in favor of health care legislation if she wins the seat long held by Edward M. Kennedy in Tuesday’s special election. . .
Brother Bradley J. Fikes, C.O.R. (9eb641) — 1/19/2010 @ 7:09 amI think Coakley will win.
JD (5920de) — 1/19/2010 @ 7:18 amI think Coakley will win steal it.
FIFY
Dr. K (eca563) — 1/19/2010 @ 7:21 amOK, why didn’t the strike work? It showed int he preview.
Dr. K (eca563) — 1/19/2010 @ 7:22 amDr. K.
You have to spell out the word “strike” in the coding.
Brother Bradley J. Fikes, C.O.R. (9eb641) — 1/19/2010 @ 7:31 amI think Coakley will
winsteal it.FIFY
Dr. K (eca563) — 1/19/2010 @ 7:33 amAlthough several Mass Democrats are under federal indictment, corruption is rampant and Brown seems to have the wind at his back, I will believe a Brown victory when I see it. The Dems have approximately 600K votes – incl. over 100K dead who are still on the rolls and 500K with no easily traceable address – and they will stop at NOTHING to steal this election.
GeneralMalaise (4c9187) — 1/19/2010 @ 7:35 amAfter what happened in MN, I’m afraid that the Dems will steal another one.
Dmac (539341) — 1/19/2010 @ 7:37 amSome of the spinning of anticipated defeat are truly bizarre, E.J. Dionne’s piece today being a classic example of a Democratic hack pretending to be Baghdad Bob.
SPQR (26be8b) — 1/19/2010 @ 7:43 amThis feels just like New Jersey did. And Christie was never behind the entire evening after the polls closed. But people before that just kept saying, the Dem machine will win it for Corzine.
bio mom (a1e126) — 1/19/2010 @ 7:51 amWhy, those ungrateful wretches …
JD (a1ad9d) — 1/19/2010 @ 7:56 amSPQR – I try not to read that snivelling asshat, so could you summarize Dionne for us?
JD (a1ad9d) — 1/19/2010 @ 7:58 amYou know, the Coakley ran a bad campaign meme might be enough to explain the dynamics of this race if we were talking about a moderately blue state like Wisconsin or Oregon. But Massachusetts? Having a D at the end of your name should guarantee a comfortable Senate win no matter how incompetenly run your campaign is.
Sean P (334463) — 1/19/2010 @ 8:02 amJD,
Dionne blames Republicans for everything that has gone wrong, and suggests they were happy to let Obama inherit the mess. The Dems are blameless, and “progressives” need to fake a Reagan act.
Oh, and there’s anonymous “Republican” bankers, too.
Brother Bradley J. Fikes, C.O.R. (9eb641) — 1/19/2010 @ 8:03 amThey are always anonymous, aren’t they? Bad bankers is this week’s meme, apparently.
JD (a1ad9d) — 1/19/2010 @ 8:09 amI try not to read that snivelling asshat
You really shouldn’t talk about David Gergen that way.
Dmac (539341) — 1/19/2010 @ 8:41 amJust remember, we need enough votes to beat the ACORN votes.
Not over until it’s over, and after the election ends the vote fraud begins.
bill-tb (541ea9) — 1/19/2010 @ 8:51 amI think we may see a bunch of moderate Dems crossing over today. They’re just as sick of this bloating government as responsible conservatives are. I wonder if the Dems internal polling included this factor.
Rovin (363536) — 1/19/2010 @ 8:59 am“Massachusetts is completely unique, because the health reform law passed a few years ago,”
Chuck Todd was spinning that this morning. You could almost hear the sweat rolling down his back.
Em (11cf60) — 1/19/2010 @ 9:04 amI’m taking the cowards route and simply saying that it’s too close to call.
bill (60db50) — 1/19/2010 @ 9:24 amthe first of many such stories?
also being carried on Malkin’s page…
redc1c4 (fb8750) — 1/19/2010 @ 9:28 amI think that since it seems to be almost a foregone conclusion Brown wins, a Coakley win now, even a close one with questionable “votes”, would actually help the Dems psychologically more than if she was expected to win.
Gerald A (a66d02) — 1/19/2010 @ 9:32 amEven if they do blame Republican bankers, they are admitting that electing Obama wasn’t going to fix the economy. Blaming Bush is admitting as much.
In 2012, Obama will promise that he’ll fix all kinds of crap, and no one will believe him, because he’s so impotent today. It’s all Bush’s doing.
Coakley is just a completely horrible candidate. Sure, the dems are too weak to overcome that in Mass, and that’s a statement, but this is mainly about Coakley.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 1/19/2010 @ 9:44 amGerald A, you’re right, it would help Dem morale now, since they are already digesting the possibility they are too weak to win their most safe state. That’s OK.
They still realize they have gone too far and have a president who either is no effective or not aimed at making the democrats generally successful. They can either go for broke or change course, whether Coakley wins or loses.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 1/19/2010 @ 9:49 amFrom one point of view, this is simply a loud shout-out on politicians who fail to fulfill their promises.
Obama promised live and open coverage of the discussion/debate on health care reform on C-Span (multiple times). He has done just the opposite, as on so many of his promises on transparency, etc. The voters are saying they liked what Obama promised, not what he has done. Those of us who have been against him all along didn’t take him for his word, we based our judgement on his past actions and associations.
Generally the past is the best prediction for the future. Put a deceitful person in office, get a deceitful office-holder. “Massachusettes” is saying they don’t like it.
I would be more worried about the outcome if it was in Illinois or PA, where the big cities are bigger than Boston, people vote for the D whether dead or alive, and the infrastructure for stealing elections is firmly in place.
MD in Philly (d4668b) — 1/19/2010 @ 9:55 amgained international recognition as a methodical county prosecutor during the 1997 trial of Louise Woodward
The Woodward case was not as gross a miscarriage of justice as the Amirault case but it was nothing to boast of.
On 10 November, at a post-conviction relief hearing, Judge Hiller B. Zobel reduced the conviction to involuntary manslaughter, stating that “the circumstances in which the defendant acted were characterised by confusion, inexperience, frustration, immaturity and some anger, but not malice in the legal sense supporting a conviction for second-degree murder,” adding: “I am morally certain that allowing this defendant on this evidence to remain convicted of second-degree murder would be a miscarriage of justice“
I don’t know that Coakley has one good conviction to her record.
Mike K (2cf494) — 1/19/2010 @ 10:14 amI thought that Gerald Leone was the prosecutor (and Barry Scheck the defense attorney). There’s some mythology built up on the au pair who should gotten the death penalty. Maybe because it’s the kind of case nobody really wants to face.
nk (df76d4) — 1/19/2010 @ 10:46 amBest line of the day, so far, submitted by a reader at The Corner:
JVW (48cbba) — 1/19/2010 @ 11:12 am#28
I didn’t follow the Woodward case closely but I believe there was absolutely nothing to tie her to the death of the infant. Some people theorize the father killed her, in addition to the defense argument that it wasn’t the result of human actions at all. The prosecution’s alleged motive made no sense. All in all I don’t understand how she was convicted of anything.
Gerald A (a66d02) — 1/19/2010 @ 11:13 amBoston.com (Globe) calls it for Coakley … kind of
quasimodo (4af144) — 1/19/2010 @ 11:54 amThe Globe is so far in the tank for Democrats, they ought to be listed as a subsidiary of the DNC.
SPQR (26be8b) — 1/19/2010 @ 11:55 amYep, quasimodo, here is the story. Isn’t it interesting how their “test” somehow had Coakley squeaking it out?
JVW (48cbba) — 1/19/2010 @ 11:57 amIf it was simply testing the website, why are the results so carefully plausible? Why carefully lay it out like that?
It’s not like this senate race has EVER been that close, so they didn’t impute results from previous elections. This isn’t from an exit poll, since there aren’t any. But what kind of election fraud effort would actually involve journalists? That would be hilarious, but just isn’t going to happen. Someone would sell them out for a big scoop, even in Boston.
It’s just really weird. There’s no way they’d have the ability to control all those rural red counties, but it’s shoddy work at a shoddy paper in an era were people don’t trust their elections as much as they used to.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 1/19/2010 @ 12:06 pmHere’s two thoughts on the Senate race:
Marcia Coakley is the Bill Buckner of Massachusettes politics.
Democrats are all wee-wee’d up over losing the MA Senate seat.
PCD (1d8b6d) — 1/19/2010 @ 12:54 pmThere is a lot of discussion of ways that the Democrats can delay Brown’s seating in the Senate.
No one seems to be mentioning that when Ted Kennedy first won the seat in a special election in 1962, he was sworn into the Senate the next day.
gahrie (517faa) — 1/19/2010 @ 12:58 pm[…] To Help Marcia Coakley. Wait. Marcia?? Who The Hell Is Marcia? Patterico’s Pontifications: Open Thread: Massachusett(e)s Election and The “Whole World” is Watching Massachusetts; UPDATE WITH VIDEO: White House Thinks Coakley […]
Electioneering, Sign of the Times… Martha Coakley’s Statist Fans Law-Breaking Again, but Who Cares? (video) « Frugal Café Blog Zone (a66042) — 1/19/2010 @ 1:05 pm[…] To Help Marcia Coakley. Wait. Marcia?? Who The Hell Is Marcia? Patterico’s Pontifications: Open Thread: Massachusett(e)s Election and The “Whole World” is Watching Massachusetts; UPDATE WITH VIDEO: White House Thinks Coakley […]
Massachusetts, Voter Fraud Alert: Why Is This Woman Handing Out Absentee Ballots Today? (video) - Update: Malkin Investigates « Frugal Café Blog Zone (a66042) — 1/19/2010 @ 1:07 pmgahrie : The rule “quod licit Jovi, non licit bovi” applies. Teddy was a Democrat! It was vital that the people of Massachusetts should have their new Democratic Senator sworn in as soon as possible. However, there is no hurry if the incoming Senator is a Republican. In fact, a slight delay of a year or more in seating a Republican will not cause much of an uproar in the Democratically controlled Congress, the White House or the Main Stream Media.
Longwalker (4e0dda) — 1/19/2010 @ 1:08 pmHarry “Mr. Propriety” Reid: “We gotta wait fer Sheriff Joe!”
mojo (8096f2) — 1/19/2010 @ 1:12 pmnk, I was quoting the NY Times, an unimpeachable source on the fact that the Woodward case was what rocketed Coakley to worldwide fame and affection. I think Leone was the assistant DA.
Mike K (2cf494) — 1/19/2010 @ 1:19 pmNo problem, Dr. Mike. I watched the trial and admired everybody, on both sides, for having the courage to deal with something that makes one want to curse God.
nk (df76d4) — 1/19/2010 @ 1:33 pmAwesome post over at the Corner about the finger-pointing which has already begun between Coakely, the DNC, and the Obama Administration.
JVW (48cbba) — 1/19/2010 @ 1:35 pmYes, Obama was snide, as always, just as the article was snide. (Do you know anyone who went to a tea party to get on Fox?!)
Brown is charming and smart. He stands against the spendathon in DC. End of story.
Patricia (b05e7f) — 1/19/2010 @ 1:44 pmI love how the anti-coakley democrats are complaining that Coakley didn’t have a “negative narrative” about Brown.
That’s the natural dem response to bad news. “Obama didn’t cut the deficit” “Oh yeah, well you are probably gay!”
“This wasn’t a transparent debate on health care” “Oh yeah, well you are really rich and own too much stuff!”
That stuff works great until you’re in 1 party control and the economy gets worse every time you screw with it.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 1/19/2010 @ 1:52 pmI still fear that Coakley is going to win.
JD (3399c0) — 1/19/2010 @ 2:09 pmI still fear that Coakley is going to win.
If Yoda were here, he would give you some trite aphorism about overcoming fear. I’m not sure how that pertains to anything in particular, but I figured I would get it on the record.
JVW (48cbba) — 1/19/2010 @ 2:19 pmYoda, I liked. Coakley, I do not.
JD (3399c0) — 1/19/2010 @ 2:21 pmEeeek !
Tornado warning in Orange County.
This isn’t supposed to happen in California !
Mike K (2cf494) — 1/19/2010 @ 2:27 pmYoda, I liked. Coakley, I do not.
Wise are you in your friendships. Trust you must that prevail Brown will.
JVW (48cbba) — 1/19/2010 @ 2:31 pmHope you all enjoy that standard routine everyday Midwest weather 😉 Actually, I hope you are all safe. I have seen the destruction that tornadoes can inflict in person. Not pretty.
JD (3399c0) — 1/19/2010 @ 2:31 pm[…] has a good round-up, including what he calls the quote of the day from Slate: “Unbelievable. The leader of the […]
The Brown-Coakley Report | The DC Trawler (3870e4) — 1/19/2010 @ 2:51 pmOne apparently touched down in Seal Beach/Sunset Beach. I grew up in Seal Beach, and my mother still lives there. She just called to tell me everything was okay.
I’ve heard of maybe 5 tornadoes in the L.A. area over the past 30-40 years. Exceedingly rare.
Some chump (d97978) — 1/19/2010 @ 3:17 pm[…] To Help Marcia Coakley. Wait. Marcia?? Who The Hell Is Marcia? Patterico’s Pontifications: Open Thread: Massachusett(e)s Election and The “Whole World” is Watching Massachusetts; UPDATE WITH VIDEO: White House Thinks Coakley […]
Massachusetts Miracle Encore: Will Mr. Brown Go to Washington? The ‘Impossible Dream’ May Come True (video) « Frugal Café Blog Zone (a66042) — 1/19/2010 @ 3:26 pm[…] via Patterico. Scott Brown barnstorms Massachusetts. BOSTON—President Obama flew in Sunday for a last-minute […]
Amused Cynic » Blog Archive » “Unbelievable. The leader of the free world is talking about my truck.” (c12030) — 1/19/2010 @ 3:35 pmTornado warning in Orange County.
This proves global warming is a fact.
/sarc
Bradley J. Fikes, C. O.R. (a18ddc) — 1/19/2010 @ 3:40 pmIf as I confidently expect Colonel Brown wins tonight, it will be for a number of reasons, all of them signficant. Of course, it is obvious that Ms. Coakley is a stunningly arrogant and incompetent candidate, while Brown has literally not put a foot wrong. However, in a state as blue as Massachussetts, that would not matter if all the people save hard-left ideologues were not at the end of their patience at being treated with contempt and condescension by Democratic leaders. A perfect example was the president mocking Brown’s 200,000 mile truck, and Coakley saying that she had “better things to do” than shake hands with voters in the snow. An argument can be made that popular dissatisfaction with Obamacare is due as much to the sneering contempt for the views of the public exhibited by the Democratic leadership as to the inherent absurdities of the plan. The people have figured out, for instance, that a plan that taxes for ten years to provide six years of services is revenue-neutral, and resent being told so. It is dawning on all americans not lost to the vagueries of Marxism and anti-Americanism that the Democratic leadership of this country despises them, and wish to be their masters rather than their servants. A Brown victory could be the precursor of a major sea-change in the public’s attitude toward Government; Republicans as well as Democrats would be well advised to sit up and take notice.
Ed Burke (b5d255) — 1/19/2010 @ 3:47 pmLet’s not make too big a deal of a Brown win. Massachusetts was the first state to elect a black Republican Senator after Reconstruction (and a Greek after him, and a Jew whose father converted to Catholicism after that). And Illinois is the only state to have elected the next two black Senators and appoint the fourth one.
Blue state, red state, Americans are Americans in every state.
nk (df76d4) — 1/19/2010 @ 3:58 pm“Let’s not make too big a deal of a Brown win.”
nk – Beautiful Idea. GFY!
WATERLOO!!!!!!!!!
daleyrocks (718861) — 1/19/2010 @ 4:03 pmNewsflash from The Politico:
Atlantic senior editor Andrew Sullivan described the election on his blog as “a nihilist moment, built from a nihilist strategy in order to regain power … to do nothing but wage war against enemies at home and abroad.
Sullivan, a longtime conservative who announced he was leaving “the right” last month, concluded Monday that “Democrats can stop hoping at this point” and predicted a double-digit victory for Brown.
Bradley J. Fikes, C. O.R. (a18ddc) — 1/19/2010 @ 4:09 pmGFY yourself, too, daleyrocks. And the horse you came in on, too. 😉
nk (df76d4) — 1/19/2010 @ 4:10 pmIt’s not a Brown win it’s a dirty socialist lose I think. Which, that’s very exciting to where I will have an orange stoli martini again.
happyfeet (71f55e) — 1/19/2010 @ 4:12 pm“And the horse you came in on, too.”
nk – Ridin’ a donkey tonight and whippin’ the shit out of it!
daleyrocks (718861) — 1/19/2010 @ 4:13 pm“Sullivan, a longtime conservative” who advocates change on almost all issues and massive government intervention on most issues and claims the right is nihilist…
Come on… he’s a liberal and we all know it. He supported Iraq until the going got tough… so what?
Dustin (b54cdc) — 1/19/2010 @ 4:16 pmDustin,
That was precisely my point. I was highlighting this silly Sully-conservative meme stenographed in the Politico.
I’m more conservative than Silly Sully ever was, and I’m a Libertarian.
Bradley J. Fikes, C. O.R. (a18ddc) — 1/19/2010 @ 4:19 pmT minus 40 minutes until polls close. Need popcorn.
JVW (48cbba) — 1/19/2010 @ 4:20 pmMy observation was about the people of Massachusetts who will be the deciders and winners today.
nk (df76d4) — 1/19/2010 @ 4:22 pmNeed Patron Tequila!
Bradley J. Fikes, C. O.R. (a18ddc) — 1/19/2010 @ 4:22 pmComment by Bradley J. Fikes, C. O.R. —
I thought your mockery of Sullivan was obvious enough that I wouldn’t bother noting it. I’m actually kinda surprised Politico would bother using him as their resident conservative. It’s hard to understand why they would make themselves look out of touch. Sullivan freaking told us he’s not part of the right anymore… how can be then be the conservative of conscience?
Oh well. I might as well enjoy a cool delicious beverage featuring Patron, The #1 ultra-premium tequila in the world. Patron: Simply Perfect.
* Please Drink Responsibly
Dustin (b54cdc) — 1/19/2010 @ 4:33 pmI’m thirsty . . . for Patron and victory!
Bradley J. Fikes, C. O.R. (a18ddc) — 1/19/2010 @ 4:35 pmT minus 40 at 4:20?
m (f74378) — 1/19/2010 @ 4:40 pmT minus 20 now.
I just restocked with Limonata soda and Bacardi.
It should be a nice evening.
SPQR (26be8b) — 1/19/2010 @ 4:43 pmI’m not worried about tornadoes coming close to me; it’s my boat that I’m worried about. It’s up near Long Beach. I’ll have to go check in the morning. The 405 freeway was flooded this afternoon so I wasn’t going anywhere today.
I think I’l have a glass of wine and watch the Democrats’ heads explode. I’m am seeing lots of comment today about potential candidates being energized to run, even in blue districts.
Mike K (2cf494) — 1/19/2010 @ 4:49 pmWith 10 minutes until polls close, here is word from the Brown camp:
JVW (48cbba) — 1/19/2010 @ 4:51 pmWasn’t it obvious to the Democrats leadership that they were overplaying their hand? Obamacare has been sinking steadily in the polling for month after month.
Astonishing amount of self-delusion and arrogance.
SPQR (26be8b) — 1/19/2010 @ 4:55 pmVote countin’ time!
JVW (48cbba) — 1/19/2010 @ 5:00 pmGlenn Thrush on Politico has this hilarious comment:
SPQR (26be8b) — 1/19/2010 @ 5:01 pmE.J. Dionne speaks of “liberalism” as if it’s a state of enlightenment that we haven’t been able to arrive at, and not the tired, shop-worn, spirit-killing Marxism-lite that we know all too well.
GeneralMalaise (4e6eee) — 1/19/2010 @ 5:01 pm[…] To Help Marcia Coakley. Wait. Marcia?? Who The Hell Is Marcia? Patterico’s Pontifications: Open Thread: Massachusett(e)s Election and The “Whole World” is Watching Massachusetts; UPDATE WITH VIDEO: White House Thinks Coakley […]
Thumbs Up: Vietnam Veteran Drove 1,600 Miles to Volunteer for Scott Brown (video) « Frugal Café Blog Zone (a66042) — 1/19/2010 @ 5:08 pmI have a new thread where I have begun to recap some of the day’s news.
Patterico (c218bd) — 1/19/2010 @ 5:22 pmAah, and I work for an entertainment company that will be laying off many in the coming months.
$40 million would make a big difference in our plans…
Clavius (b00448) — 1/19/2010 @ 8:58 pm