How did Scott Brown defeat Martha Coakley?

[darklordoftech]

Massachusetts had always elected Democratic Senators, so how did Brown defeat Coakley?

[brucejoel99]

Voters were angry + Coakley played it safe & never even tried to put a stop to Brown's momentum by putting him on the defensive + Coakley didn't target independents.

Pretty much all of this combined for a perfect storm in Brown's favor.

[junior chįmp]

SECULAR Marta Cokley refused to make pilgrimage to HOLY site Fenway Park where potential voters engage in religious fervor of ritual involving sitting for hours watching string spun ball being hit with stick as their eyes glaze over like former Senator Kennedys after couple of martinis at DC bar. As mistakes and gafes pile on like BIG DIG cost over runs, brown capitalizes on Martas desecration of ritual to rally weary MA voterd whos misplaced rage was transmuted to election victory for Brown in stunning rebuke not seen since Dukkakis loss of 78 over issue of property tax abatements

[here2view]

She was a god awful candidate, and overall public opinion of Obama had gotten more negative.

The ongoing discussion on healthcare was also contentious, and some voters thought that a GOP win here could prevent Democrats holding the 60th Senate seat and therefore prevent healthcare from passing (which didn't happen, of course.)

[darklordoftech]

She was a god awful candidate, and overall public opinion of Obama had gotten more negative.

The ongoing discussion on healthcare was also contentious, and some voters thought that a GOP win here could prevent Democrats holding the 60th Senate seat and therefore prevent healthcare from passing (which didn't happen, of course.)

Voters in Massachusettes wanted to prevent healthcare from passing?

[lfromnj]

She was a god awful candidate, and overall public opinion of Obama had gotten more negative.

The ongoing discussion on healthcare was also contentious, and some voters thought that a GOP win here could prevent Democrats holding the 60th Senate seat and therefore prevent healthcare from passing (which didn't happen, of course.)

Voters in Massachusettes wanted to prevent healthcare from passing?

Voters in Massachussettes who turned out wanted to do that. Im sure the majority of all citizens there wanted it pass but they weren't really motivated.

[Wazza [INACTIVE]]

GOP machines busing racist hicks from Upstate New York and Pennsyltucky to vote in the state.

[Strudelcutie4427]

Rule of thumb: As Quincy goes, so goes Massachusetts

[MillennialModerate]

Because Scott Brown painted himself as a reasonable moderate and Coakley came off as a miserable hack during a time that the country was disappointed (that would change of course) in what Obama was doing.

Scott Brown could have got re-elected to a 6 year term in 2012 if he was just smart enough to vote for Justice Kagan. But it showed his true partisan stripes (granted she was a liberal but it’s the Dem presidents prerogative to choose the candidate and she didn’t have any red flags in her record)

Now if that had happened and Trump got elected in ‘16, you would’ve surely seen Brown go down to defeat in 2018 because any GOP candidate in a blue state was dead in ‘16 but especially Brown if he had gone on to support Trump in the way he ended up doing so.. The opponent who would have defeated him almost definitely would have been  Joe Kennedy III.

[sg0508]

Crappy turnout absolutely helped Brown.  Had it not been a presidential year in 2012, he may have had a shot at a full term.  Even with the "Harvard" comment, which was likely the back-breaker, he still got 46% against Warren.

[MillennialModerate]

Crappy turnout absolutely helped Brown.  Had it not been a presidential year in 2012, he may have had a shot at a full term.  Even with the "Harvard" comment, which was likely the back-breaker, he still got 46% against Warren.

I think the vote against Kagan did him in.

It reminded voters that once he got a 6 year term he couldn’t be trusted. I honestly think he had a serious shot if he played his cards right because even MA being a deep blue state, we are reasonable - unlike a state like Tennessee (a deep red state that doesn’t care as long as the candidate has an R)

[Stranger in a strange land]

She was a god awful candidate, and overall public opinion of Obama had gotten more negative.

The ongoing discussion on healthcare was also contentious, and some voters thought that a GOP win here could prevent Democrats holding the 60th Senate seat and therefore prevent healthcare from passing (which didn't happen, of course.)

Voters in Massachusettes wanted to prevent healthcare from passing?

Voters in Massachussettes who turned out wanted to do that. Im sure the majority of all citizens there wanted it pass but they weren't really motivated.

Also, the sausage-making of the Obamacare Bill was extremely drawn-out, protracted, public, and demoralizing for the Democratic Base. This resulted in the Democratic Base being demotivated, which probably contributed to Coakley's loss more than anything she did (though she's a uniquely awful candidate and has blown two sure-thing statewide elections in one of the most Democratic states in the country - a generic D still would have won). Also, Brown was able to position himself as a moderate - a teabagger or even a generic R still would have lost.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Three years prior, in the midst of a GOP President at 20% approval in the state, a Republican almost flipped MA-05 (now numbered as MA-03) in a special election running on brokering a deal on CHIP, which was up for renewal and had become part of the usual DC gridlock. Base turnout was better though, Bush's unpopularity also helped them and the Democratic candidate had the benefit of her late husband's popularity in the state. Coakley had no such things to fall back on.