Posts Tagged ‘Martha Coakley’

Brockton: Talked to a voter: Very long lines at the polls, an even split between Brown and Coakley signs and people holding them.

Revere: My contact tells me that Brown is the subject on everyone lips. Martha is not. He informs me that for a Republican candidate to generate this much buzz in the city is unknown.

Jamaica Plain: Looking solidly for Martha.

Talked to a gentleman from Boston who voted for Brown, he has known the family for years and is delighted with the candidate, I asked if he would have considered voting republican if another candidate with Brown’s positions had been running. He was not sure, but he expressed no excitement for Coakley.

Update: 2nd report from Leominister from a different polling location. Long lines of voters no Coakley signs, several people holding signs for Brown.

Grafton: Strong Republican town and tonight will be no different, voters excited that they will be making a difference.

Randolph: Normally strong democratic, trending Brown, “she is not personable”

WBUR and the Globe report that the Coakley campaign is alleging fraud. I’m so glad I wasn’t drinking when I heard about that.

Talking to Carl Cameron from Fox now about what we have both seen. Barney Frank loudly proclaimed Ms. Coakley’s faults across the room with no attempt to keep anyone from hearing. This doesn’t happen when you have a chance to win.

Leominster again: Two different precincts. For the first time I have reports of Coakley people holding signs, at City hall it is dead even, at ward 4 one more Coakley person that for Brown. And a heads up to the Right Wing Gammer these are reports from guys you know.

South Boston: Not a sign in the window for either candidate, told that if this was a Kennedy Election there would be no question what would be happening. Southie being Southie people are not saying it aloud when I asked a man in a bar this morning (1:20 a.m.) who he supported, another fellow next to him told me it was none of my business although he used more “colorful” language however the people who have talked to me suggest it will be going Brown.

7:59 p.m. The crowd is just dying for 8 p.m. I’m wondering how fast the media will call it.

8:01 p.m. I think the lack of sleep is finally starting to hit me, I think I’ve had less than 14 hours sleep since Friday.

The main web guy is talking in front of me all about what they did right on the web.

8:12 p.m. I hate to disappoint my pal in Leominster who insisted that the “Brown Vote Fraud” nonsense was real but this report puts the kibosh on what I already laughed about. Wishful thinking on the media’s part doesn’t make it so.

8:15 p.m. The food was pretty good and the band is very loud, these people are having a lot of fun.

8:21 p.m. How loud is the band? I have ear candy in my ears, Dr Who the Mutant Phase playing and I can’t hear it over the band, on the plus side the Band is pretty good.

8:25 p.m. BTW did I forget to mention that I was introduced to Pam Geller a couple of hours ago (charming lady) and that Ace of Spades grabbed a spot between me and Dan.?

8:38 p.m. Net went down snarfing a nearby one. I normally wouldn’t do that, but I just interviewed Scott Brown’s brother Bruce and I want to get it it up.

8:57 p.m. Net is back up but believe it or not it was down while I questioned Scott’s brother Bruce and then Mitt Romney.

8:58 p.m. The crowd is cheering for a 5 point lead so far, I can’t get excited for something that I’ve already decided has happened.

8:59 p.m. I asked Gov Romney if the republicans can exploit the victory tonight, he didn’t like the word exploit but said that republicans can win if they support lower taxes, less government blah blah blah… Reasked the question saying how do we make this Berlin 1991 instead of Hungary 1958, same generic answer, before I could press on how to recruit candidates etc the national media started to swarm.

9:02 p.m. I asked about the dangers of the exceptions game due to the victory (that I’ve already claimed has happened we just don’t “know” it yet) he maintains that Scott is down to earth enough to not over promise and has the willingness to work very hard to achieve the goals he has set.

with Stacy and Dan Collins to take our promised seats on blog row.

Late report from the RightWingGammer, in Newburyport, normally he would expect D+15; today it’s too close to call.

He also has some good advice:

DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT think this is in the bag! Go, vote, then celebrate, but no earlier than 7:00PM please. Make the liberals there think differently. Catch them by surprise.

Update finally tally from Newburyport: Coakley by 1

In normal times candidates are looking for a strong person on the top of the ballot to increase turnout for people below it who do not have name recognition but share the party of that top name.

As we’ve reported here before, the one constant in this race has been that people do NOT like Martha Coakley (not even her supporters, I’ve run into only 3 who actually like her). Even with the superstars of the Democratic Party around her, she can not draw crowds comparable to Brown.

When you have an unpopular person at the top of the ticket, the dynamic reverses you need races on a local level that people care about to get your core voters to turn out.

But there is no other race, she is alone, she is trailing in the polls and it is cold and snowy. As of 1:44 p.m. there is STILL no person holding a sign for Coakley at ward 6.

The local democratic pols have absolutely no skin in this race and they see the probability of their regular voters ready to vote republican. They are not going to spend their political capital on a race that appears to be lost for no political reward.

There is nothing local at stake

Update: It’s one thing for the local pols to sit back and do nothing, this is quite another:

He is the president of an American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) local in Worcester and says that he is one of three officials of the local who is supporting Republican Scott Brown.

There is top-down pressure from AFSCME pressuring locals to support Democrat Martha Coakley, but the president of this local (there are multiple AFSCME locals in Worcester) says he tosses those directives “straight in the garbage.”

Make sure you read the last line in that story.

…turn on MSNBC and just watch the anchors and reporters. I haven’t seen these people so downhearted since the Palin speech at the 2008 convention.