-
Japanese Tea Party Leaders Embrace Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 Plan
February 10, 2012 | 4 comments
-
How Mitt Could Be Beat
February 8, 2012 | 12 comments
-
Charmaine Yoest's Victory for Life
February 2, 2012 | 0 comments
-
Florida Republican's Ad Depicts Children Enslaved by Obama
January 24, 2012 | 3 comments
-
Rick Perry Declares 'Strategic Retreat,' Endorses 'Visionary' Gingrich
January 19, 2012 | 7 comments
The Spectacle Blog
FITCHBURG, Mass. -- Today at breakfast in a local diner, my friend Da Tech Guy finally found a genuine undecided voter: She is sure she's going to vote Tuesday but doesn't know who she'll vote for. "They're so nasty," the elderly woman said, referring to the negative campaign ads now flooding TV airwaves throughout Massachusetts.
Seeing the Senate campaign from ground level is weird, in that you see and hear things -- TV ads, mailers, local news coverage, the comments of voters -- that aren't visible from outside the election battle zone. So you're watching selected microcosms of the campaign that don't necessarily match the Big Picture the national pundits are commenting on.
Example: The phone just rang here at my friend's house where I'm staying. It was a pre-recorded "robocall" from Republican Scott Brown's daughter, Ayla, saying that Democrat Martha Coakley has "crossed the line" with her latest "disgusting and malicious" attacks. This state's phones are being flooded with robocalls, and you have to wonder what the effect will be.
Meanwhile, this afternoon, a friend on Twitter asked:
@rsmccain What do think about MAsen's poll's similarities to NY23's? its making me sweat it a little.
Indeed, the Brown surge is remarkably reminiscent of Doug Hoffman's out-of-nowhere campaign in New York's 23rd District, which came heartbreakingly close to victory. Unlike Hoffman, however, Brown is an experienced politician with the support of a major national party. On the other hand, Massachusetts is far more heavily Democratic than New York's "North Country."
The latest poll from American Research Group reinforces the perception that Brown has pulled ahead of Democrat Martha Coakley. From my point of view, though, poll-mongering is a waste of time at this late stage of an election campaign -- like speculating about the rumored Lindsay Lohan sex video.
What really counts now is turnout, which is why Barack Obama is coming to town Sunday: To try to fire up Democrats to get out the vote. It doesn't matter if Obama actually sways any undecided voters. His appearance in Boston is aimed at inspiring those discouraged Democrats who might not bother to vote if they think Coakley's already lost.
And so it goes. We're about to head out on the road to cover Scott Brown's "Bold New Leadership" bus tour -- the kind of retail politics Brown does best, and at which Martha Coakley has proven so disastrously inept, as witness her stupid attack on Red Sox hero Curt Schilling.
The phone here just rang again with a phone call from the National Organization For Marriage, a family-values outfit. My friend worries that the call might hurt Brown with some Republican voters who support same-sex marriage. But who knows? It's like that Lindsay Lohan sex video -- at this point, everything's just speculation.
View all comments (42) | Leave a comment
Leave a Comment
More Blog Posts by Robert Stacy McCain
http://spectator.org/blog/2010/01/16/fear-and-loathing-in-massachus
Follow us:
ADVERTISEMENT
Current Issue
- The Man From La Fortaleza
- Background to the Financial Crisis
- The Collapse of Jon Corzine
- Digital Subscription (Save 78%)
- Buy a single issue (Save 50%)
- Send Spectator as a gift
Clip of the Day
ADVERTISEMENT
Pingback| 1.16.10 @ 3:05PM
Massachusetts Senate: When the Going Gets Weird, the Weird Vote Brown : The Other Mc links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Ben| 1.16.10 @ 3:40PM
Averaging the last 5 polls (not including the ludicrous +15 Brown poll) I get Brown 46.8, Coakley 47.2 - I hope thats wrong. Of course this doesn't take into account who was doing the polling, time frame, etc. So maybe thats a silly and extremely speculative way of analyzing.
Bob Belvedere| 1.16.10 @ 3:53PM
If you're an undecided male voter in the land of the bean and the cod, I urge you to read this Appeal To The Red-Blooded Men Of Massachusetts.
It won't regret it!
Steve| 1.16.10 @ 3:54PM
Got the Ayla Brown robocall as well as one from Curt Schilling. Not offended in the least. Kind of enjoying it.
Martha| 1.16.10 @ 3:58PM
Please stop mis-spelling the name of our state, it's Massachusettes.
Ben| 1.17.10 @ 12:18PM
Sorry bud, you guys just have way too many vowels and double letters out there. :)
Ed in Texas| 1.16.10 @ 4:11PM
There is more dissimilarity with the Doug Hoffman campaign. Some of the "North Country" Republican pols used unaware County Chairs to select Dee Dee Scozzafava without a primary. Scozzafava had a voting record which was to the left of the Democrat (though that didn't matter when the Democrat got under Pelosi's wing and broke 4 campaign promises in his first week). Brown may have been ignored by the party machinery in DC (cutting him out of money for far too long), but at least he didn't have Cornyn's RNSC spending money on ads to defeat him (as the RNCC did for Scozzafava - who repaid them by declaring for the Democrat), nor Newt Gingrich weighing in on Coakley's behalf. Brown has only had to fight Coakley and the Democrats.
Pete2| 1.16.10 @ 4:24PM
Looks like Brown is going to pull this off, in spite of what some on here may think and you know why? It's because the people are not only fed up but they see a viable alternative to the status quo. People are being hurt bigtime by this out of control arroagant Congress and they are finally waking up. Yeah, the attack ads are even being aired up here in Vermont. Must be all those "flatlanders" who moved up here are still registered down there.
Mary| 1.16.10 @ 9:37PM
Tv had clips of supporters for Coakley-Gee wonder if they are citizens as they have hispanic accents and don't speak english too well.....Bet they will vote!
WhiteBikerTrash| 1.16.10 @ 11:48PM
I have a prediction!
And I don't like it anymore than you do.
Brown will win by under 10%, the recount will be called for, after the first recount Brown will be ahead by just under 5%, after the third recount, Coakley will win by 3%. She will take "Kennedy's seat".
I live in Washington State, I've seen it before!!
SoCon| 1.17.10 @ 4:00AM
That's the ACORN margin of error way to win. Senator Al Frankenstein 'won' the same way.
chi flat iron sale| 1.17.10 @ 1:07AM
Vipchi store,we provide you with qualified chi with cheap price:pink chi flat iron,green camo chi flat iron,chi camo flat iron blue,chi flat iron sale,Fast Savings &Free worldwide Shipping!
lala| 1.17.10 @ 2:27AM
Looks like Brown is going to pull this off, in spite of what some on here may think and you know why? It's because the people are not only fed up but they see a viable alternative to the status quo. People are being hurt bigtime by this out of control arroagant Congress and they are finally waking up. Yeah, the attack ads are even being aired up here in Vermont. Must be all those "flatlanders" who moved up here are still registered down there.
nike outlet
adidas outlet
Liberal Reader| 1.17.10 @ 8:52AM
That's right ... If a Democrat wins in Massachusetts, it's because ACORN rigged the election!
Boy. Nothing is lost on you folks.
For sale:
Large, beautiful bridge in Brooklyn. Classic American architecture. Application fee. Send check or money order.
LiveFreeOrDie| 1.17.10 @ 3:08PM
Riiiiiiight because ACORN is just an honest organization that's never had any illegal effect on any election. Is that who sold you the bridge you have advertised?
SoCon| 1.17.10 @ 3:32PM
Hey, Liberal Screeder--it worked for Senator Al Frankenstein, it could work for Croakley.
How many times is Teddy going to vote this Tuesday?
The ACORN margin of error.
XXX| 1.17.10 @ 5:32PM
If a Democrat wins in Massachusetts, it's because ACORN rigged the election!
Correct.
Liberal Reader| 1.17.10 @ 6:57PM
XXX et al. --
Do you know ANYthing about politics that you don't hear on right wing talk radio?
SoCon| 1.17.10 @ 11:19PM
Nasty, nasty, nasty-- Screeder never disappoints!
Ken (Old Texican)| 1.17.10 @ 10:23AM
I am earnestly praying that Mr. Brown be elected in Massachusetts.
But,
There is no logical reason I can see that he can be.
It shouldn't even be a contest, folks, unless a lot of embarrassed Democrats decide to stay at home on Tuesday.
Does anyone here NOT living in MA understand just how much money the Democrat party has paid for every vote up there?
Well, a friend of mine that lives there tells me the cumulative sum over the last ten years is in the tens of billions of dollars....
government subsidies...
University subsidies...
featherbedded government unions ...
teacher unions...
sweetheart government contracts...
welfare queens...
...all the things the federal government Democrats want for the whole country.
Scott Brown winning in MA would be nothing less than God Himself taking mercy on the citizens there yet one more time.
See, the citizens I know there...misspell their own State name: they spell it Taxachussetts.
Guess where most of those taxes go?
(see above)
Nevertheless, I do pray earnestly that Mr. Brown wins. It would be a miracle on the scale of the Red Sea parting to allow the Israelites to escape from bondage under the Egyptians.
It may need to be a case of Sodom and Gomorra, where the "righteous men and women" may simply have to flee and not look back lest they turn into a pillar of salt.
SoCon| 1.17.10 @ 3:41PM
We've got to make a stand sometime, Old Texican; can't keep running forever. Pretty soon we'll run out of American real estate to flee to!
It's against my nature to turn tail and run.
Ken (Old Texican)| 1.18.10 @ 9:07AM
I hear you SoCon.
But in the words of the "gambler"... You gotta' know when to hold 'em and know when to fold 'em...and when to walk away."
Don't run! Beat the bastards!
SoCon| 1.18.10 @ 3:30PM
Yeah, but this ain't a card game and I ain't a gambler--I can't walk away from my country.
Don't run! Beat the bastards!! Now, that's what I'm talkin' about!
Bob Belvedere| 1.17.10 @ 7:47PM
Quoted from and Linked to at:
Stacy McCain In Bosstown VI
Pingback| 1.18.10 @ 3:26PM
The American Spectator : AmSpecBlog : Fear and Loathing in … Staff links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Pingback| 1.21.10 @ 2:38AM
All Politics News Breakfast Is Local : The Other McCain links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Pingback| 1.29.10 @ 9:24AM
The Sentinel & Enterprise covered yesterday’s protest… « DaTechguy's Blog links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
dodo| 7.13.10 @ 4:53AM
“They don’t make money by giving out literature.