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This week I spent a lot of time arguing for Coakley on leftist and center-left blogs such as Riverdaughter's Confluence, Pumapac.org, etc. A lot of those people have always attacked Obamacare from the Left. On Jan 19 many of them voted for Brown as a punishment to the Dems.
Kind of the same thinking as those Dems/Liberals who voted for Nader in 2000 -- or for McCain in 2008, as a protest against Obama.
Many of these people had supported Coakley in the primary when she was opposing the Obama/Kennedy candidate and criticizing Obamacare. When she won the primary and the O/K people endorsed her, that was a kiss of death for many of her supporters. They accused her of selling out and they voted for Brown in protest.
I haven't seen exit polls to find out how many votes this actually added up to. But it's a factor I think should be looked into. Not all Brown's votes came from GOP/Conservatives nor from people who disliked Coakley before she accepted the O/K endorsement; till then she was well liked and successful, sfiak; it was only after the O/K endorsement that her numbers went down.
Of course Brown hadn't had much of a campaign till then either. In some states the primary settles the general election, and everyone thought MA would be one of those states this year.
Kind of the same thinking as those Dems/Liberals who voted for Nader in 2000 -- or for McCain in 2008, as a protest against Obama.
Many of these people had supported Coakley in the primary when she was opposing the Obama/Kennedy candidate and criticizing Obamacare. When she won the primary and the O/K people endorsed her, that was a kiss of death for many of her supporters. They accused her of selling out and they voted for Brown in protest.
I haven't seen exit polls to find out how many votes this actually added up to. But it's a factor I think should be looked into. Not all Brown's votes came from GOP/Conservatives nor from people who disliked Coakley before she accepted the O/K endorsement; till then she was well liked and successful, sfiak; it was only after the O/K endorsement that her numbers went down.
Of course Brown hadn't had much of a campaign till then either. In some states the primary settles the general election, and everyone thought MA would be one of those states this year.
