Saturday, January 30, 2010
Hall of Shame
It's time to welcome a new member to the Political Campaigning Hall of Shame.
We welcome Martha Coakley, failed candidate for the U.S. Senate from Massachusetts, to the Hall. Forget everything you are hearing about voter anger, Scott Brown won Ted Kennedy's Senate seat because Martha ran the worst campaign one could imagine. It's not what she did. It's what she didn't do. She didn't reunite her party by calling her primary opponents and enlisting their aid (Recall when Jimmy Carter "kicked Ted Kennedy's ass" for the 1980 Democratic presidential nomination, then offered to kiss it to get his support?). She also failed to bring the Kennedy family in to the campaign. From what I've read, they forced the issue. A Democrat doesn't run for office in Massachusetts without courting Kennedy support and expect to win. And she did not take a realistic approach, focusing on a very liberal stance on abortion rights. That won't float. Even Nancy Pelosi knows that. She thought her early poll results were enough and she went to sleep.
So Martha gets to join fellow hall members, Sen. John McCain, who actually considered Joe Lieberman as his running mate before coming to his senses. Then he failed to really vet the VP candidate he did choose, Sarah Palin ( the one who can see Russia from her house, therefore she is qualified to make foreign affairs decisions).
She joins Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, who ran for governor of Maryland after serving as Lt. Gov. She was a "lock." Then she ran a campaign that could have put anyone to sleep.
And finally, she joins my favorite, former governor, Michael Dukakis, who blew an 18-19% poll lead and then lost to George H.W. Bush by about the same margin, subjecting us to four more years of deficit spending and the man who defeated S. Hussein in a war and then let him go back into power.
So we now have Martha, John, Kathleen and Michael. Who's next to receive millions of dollars in campaign contributions and give us nothing in return?
We welcome Martha Coakley, failed candidate for the U.S. Senate from Massachusetts, to the Hall. Forget everything you are hearing about voter anger, Scott Brown won Ted Kennedy's Senate seat because Martha ran the worst campaign one could imagine. It's not what she did. It's what she didn't do. She didn't reunite her party by calling her primary opponents and enlisting their aid (Recall when Jimmy Carter "kicked Ted Kennedy's ass" for the 1980 Democratic presidential nomination, then offered to kiss it to get his support?). She also failed to bring the Kennedy family in to the campaign. From what I've read, they forced the issue. A Democrat doesn't run for office in Massachusetts without courting Kennedy support and expect to win. And she did not take a realistic approach, focusing on a very liberal stance on abortion rights. That won't float. Even Nancy Pelosi knows that. She thought her early poll results were enough and she went to sleep.
So Martha gets to join fellow hall members, Sen. John McCain, who actually considered Joe Lieberman as his running mate before coming to his senses. Then he failed to really vet the VP candidate he did choose, Sarah Palin ( the one who can see Russia from her house, therefore she is qualified to make foreign affairs decisions).
She joins Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, who ran for governor of Maryland after serving as Lt. Gov. She was a "lock." Then she ran a campaign that could have put anyone to sleep.
And finally, she joins my favorite, former governor, Michael Dukakis, who blew an 18-19% poll lead and then lost to George H.W. Bush by about the same margin, subjecting us to four more years of deficit spending and the man who defeated S. Hussein in a war and then let him go back into power.
So we now have Martha, John, Kathleen and Michael. Who's next to receive millions of dollars in campaign contributions and give us nothing in return?
