Why Martha Coakley Lost the Senate Race in Massachusetts

Massachusetts voters have struck once again. In one of the most liberal States in the Country, Mass, voters have elected a Republican to the U.S. Senate, Scott Brown, filling the seat of the late Senator Edward Kennedy, who held the seat for longer than I can remember. Martha Coakley, the Democrat in the race, was a virtual shoe in. As a very effective Attorney General for Mass; her name recognition, and admired reputation, made it almost impossible for her to lose to the Republican candidate.

Who is Scott Brown? The majority of Mass. voters asked the same question, when he announced his candidacy several months ago. He is a little known State Senator, who came out of nowhere to upset the apple cart in Washington. How did he pull it off? This is a question that will be talked about for a very long time.

Taking nothing away from Senator-elect Brown, the answer is simple. Not only did Martha Coakley underestimate him, she also took, what many other elected officials have taken, Mass. voters for granted. As a Democrat in this state, that is a very easy thing to do. Many experts on politics have called her campaign "lazy," and have said she "Fell asleep at the wheel." I'm not an expert, but she certainly didn't take Scott Brown seriously, until it was way too late.

Martha did not choose to campaign publicly, after her hard fought primary win. Perhaps she thought, like many others, that she didn't need to work too hard to beat a Republican newcomer. After all, it's been 31 years since Mass. voters elected a Republican Senator, Edward Brooke in 1979. Senator Kennedy, and Senator Kerry have been fixtures in Washington forever. So, why would she possibly worry about Scott Brown? I'm not sure I would disagree with her thinking.

At one point, after her primary win, Martha was a 30 point favorite over Scott in most polls. So, business as usual in Mass; right? Wrong. What Martha didn't figure on was that Scott Brown is a very likable man. He has a quiet demeanor, and is a family man. He is also a Lt. Colonel in the National Guard, something that helped his cause along the way. He took the page right out of President Obamas's book, and started a grass roots campaign. By the time Martha knew it Scott had caught up to her in the polls, and began to lead in a few.

Instead of being eager to debate Senator-elect Brown, she avoided most of these public debates, and insisted on any debate to include the third candidate on the ballot, Joe Kennedy, who is not related to the famous Kennedy's by the way. Why did she avoid them? Simple. When you are in the driver's seat, why would you allow anyone more press coverage? Bad strategy 101. When she realized she was in trouble, she decided to go with negative attack ads, bad strategy 102. She also called on President Obama to make a last minute appearance to help save her. In a state where universal health care has been ion place for a few years, bringing in the champion of U.S Health Care in this state, was bad strategy 103.

I happen to very much like Martha Coakley, and I think she would of well represented us in Washington. But Scott Brown is a very good politician, and a good person who took the high road, for the most part, and won fairly, and squarely. Congrats Senator-elect Brown, and for the rest of us Mass. Democrats, I hope we all learned a valuable lesson.