A Different Angle

Posted on 27 January 2010

I thought it worthwhile to print one of the comments on my piece of a few days back “And So It Better Begin,” regarding the Democratic loss in Massachusetts. It’s interesting in that it’s a view from the battlefield, not from on high:

(From “Walla”)

I was on the ground in Massachusetts working with the Coakley campaign for nearly 5 months from the primary right through the general election. I sat in the room with her almost daily. The depth of her and the campaign’s hubris and inexperience was breathtaking. She and her senior staff spent precious time “measuring the drapes” talking about who was going to be her chief of staff in DC, what DC neighborhood would be best for her dogs, what Senate committee assignments she might get.
Added to that, her campaign manager had never worked on a campaign at any level (including local dog catcher) ever in his life. One of her law school friends was her senior adviser and was a clown and epic bootlicker.
And after she won the primary, she just shut the operation down. She took 3 days off after the primary win, 8 days off at Christmas, and 3 more days off at New Year. She also tended to come in at 10:30 am and leave by 5 pm. All of the consultants were hopping up and down to try to stop it but to no avail. We were laughed at (literally) and patted on the head (metaphorically) and told to “relax, she’s going to win”. Finally, she hated meeting “regular people” and it showed.
While there is certainly plenty of blame to go around, Martha Coakley ran the worst political campaign in the history of American politics. In that sense she got exactly what she deserved. However, it is a tragedy that 46 million uninsured and those with heartbreaking preexisting conditions are the ones who may be bearing the brunt of a clueless party that got blindsided by a clueless campaign and candidate.