Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Coakley, Brown Win Parties' Nods in MA Senate Specials

[Map courtesy of The Boston Globe--Click to Enlarge]

UPDATE: The map above shows the complete results with 100% reporting.

With 95% of the precincts reporting, Democratic Massachusetts Attorney General, Martha Coakley, and Republican state senator, Scott Brown have earned their respective parties' nominations to face off in the January 19 special (general) election to succeed Ted Kennedy in the Senate. Coakley, in a multi-candidate race nearly reached 50% (at 47% as of now) while Brown amassed over 80% of the Republican primary vote.

It may not be the most exciting thing in the world, but there will be a high profile election on January 19 and FHQ will be watching.


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Democratic Change Commission 2012 Rules Recommendations Taking Shape

6 comments:

Jack said...

That map has since been updated.

I thought - and some others did too - that Capuano made a mistake in promising not to vote for a health care bill with the Stupak amendment. When you're running behind someone popular and with better name recognition, like Coakley, you have to find some whay to differentiate yourself, and Coakley said she wouldn't vote for it. Capuano initially said he would, but then backtracked.

Taking a different position might have increased Capuano's margin of defeat, or it might have reduced it, but was still worth a try. Simply copying Coakley's positions would not give Capuano a win.

Josh Putnam said...

There just wasn't enough light between any of the candidates. They were all ideologically indistinguishable and that definitely favored a candidate who was able to start out way ahead in the polls and maintain that position throughout.

Josh Putnam said...

Oh, and I updated the map.

Jack said...

Yeah, it was a tough battle for Capuano or anyone. I was definitely for Capuano or Khazei. My state's had some bad experiences with attorneys general in higher office.

Josh Putnam said...

No, the track record of late has not been that great for NY AGs. Does that cross state lines, though? That's something to look at (in the Future). We'll have to see how McDonnell does in Virginia and, if he gets that far, how Cuomo does in New York.

Jack said...

I'm not sure if the "attorney generals make bad governors" phenomenon crosses state lines. But our attorney-general-turned governor certainly did.