"‘I did what I felt was the best campaign I could do.’; Coakley reflects on Senate election loss, looks ahead" by Stephanie Ebbert, Globe Staff | January 22, 2010
Martha Coakley knows she let the Democrats down, that Ted Kennedy’s legacy and President Obama’s agenda are in jeopardy.
But there were no dramatic apologies yesterday, no tears on display as she held her first in-depth interviews since her stunning loss in Tuesday’s special election for the US Senate.
Coakley, the state’s attorney general, was back at work, issuing press releases on fisheries enforcement, talking about consumer fraud, and sounding, as she reflected on her campaign, as pleasant and pragmatic and guarded as ever.
“I appreciate that this is tough for everybody who wanted me to win,’’ Coakley said. “I own that. My campaign owns it. We’re going to spend some time, obviously, looking at what we could have done or might have done differently.’’
Coakley acknowledged that her campaign was less than perfect. She said that she could have started advertising on television earlier, instead of saving her financial reserves for the last push before election day. She learned that sometimes people did not get her sensibility, thought she was too scripted, and then, when she tried to be spontaneous, misunderstood her jokes. That, she realizes, she needs to work on.
However, she concluded, “I did what I felt was the best campaign I could do.’’
I guess she has to say that, huh?
If that is true, she never had a chance despite the 31-point lead in the polls.
“In the end, I know who I am,’’ she said. “I’m very comfortable with what I care about and what I work for. The bad news is . . . I wasn’t successful in this race, and I do feel very bad about that for the work that needs to go on.’’
Coakley spoke yesterday afternoon, as she conducted a series of interviews with reporters in a 20th floor conference room with a sweeping view of the gold dome of the State House and the salt-and-pepper towers of the Longfellow Bridge.
“We did a lot of things well in this campaign, as I think we did in the primary,’’ Coakley said. “We won the primary by 19 points and everybody said, ‘Great campaign.’ ’’
Then, Coakley said, she maintained the same campaign strategy for the general election. Coakley said she took only two days off, Christmas Eve and Christmas, in the final weeks of the campaign, and she spent that time on Cape Cod....
She took a week vacation! I guess the self-delusion never ends for Democrats. I don't get it.
In one much-remembered Globe story, Coakley described her strategy as focusing on labor and political leaders who could get out Democratic voters on Election Day and seemed to scoff at the idea of shaking hands with voters at Fenway Park out in the cold.
Don't think the ELITIST ATTITUDE of a STATE PROSECUTOR didn't rub people the wrong way, either!
“I believed - and I still believe - that it would be difficult to do the kinds of retail politics that you would do in a general election,’’ she said. “By using some sort of hyperbole or shorthand . . . voters took that I was arrogant about it. But I’m not.’’
Just by saying that she proves she is!
“Remember, we had done a ton of this with the primary,’’ she added, of retail politicking. “We had been out all over the Commonwealth and we intended to do that again, as we did in this race. But the strategy was, we’ve got to focus on going after our base and getting them energized and getting our message out.’’
Weak excuses, especially since the base stayed home.
Long considered a star player on the overwhelmingly Democratic political landscape in Massachusetts, Coakley saw her career marred by a devastating defeat this week.
If she was the star, Massachusetts Democrats are in deep, deep, doo-doo!
But Coakley said that she is energized about her next campaign - for reelection as attorney general, in November - and that she is not bothered by the knowledge that, around the country, people are wondering how she could have lost the Senate seat.
“Everybody’s going to do that,’’ she said. “Life goes on. I come back to my work.’’
She doesn't sound like she wanted that Senate seat very much -- certainly not for someone who has been planning for it for five years.
Related: Selecting a Senator: What Happened to the Coakley Campaign?
