It’s been a fairly long time since Attorney General Martha Coakley famously lost Massachusetts to State Senator Scott Brown. A look back at the race gives an insightful view into the Republican machine, and how Republicans are often quite effective when campaigning.

Mr. Brown ran a classic Republican campaign. He effectively painted Ms. Coakley as lazy and unwilling to campaign, a politician who didn’t care about Massachusetts, who simply assumed that Massachusetts would vote Democratic because it always did. Every minor mistake Coakley made – a stupid statement here, a word spelled wrongly there – was turned into further support for this theme.

These are classic Republican tactics; they are the bread and butter of the Republican machine. Senator John McCain’s campaign spent all summer creating controversy out of nothing. For instance, he ran an ad accusing Senator Barack Obama of not visiting the troops; one of the images in the ad originally showed Mr. Obama draining a three-pointer in front of – guess what – the troops. Mr. McCain’s ad then photoshopped the troops out. In the end Mr. Obama’s campaign, with the helpful aid of Fox News, spent an entire week engulfed in artificial controversy.

Martha Coakley fell victim to similar tactics. She famously didn’t know who Curt Schilling was, for instance – a mistake Mr. Brown used to paint her as elite out-of-touch. Yet being familiar with sports has absolutely nothing to do with being a good Senator or making decisions that affect the country’s well-being. President George W. Bush was a devoted sports fan; that didn’t make him a good president.

Republicans also attacked Ms. Coakley for misspelling Massachusetts in an ad – another variation on the “Martha doesn’t care about Massachusetts” theme. In reality the misspelling occurs for one second in the credits; it isn’t even noticeable unless it’s specifically pointed out to an individual. Chances are that the misspelling had nothing to do with Ms. Coakley; it was probably the fault of a tired staffer running low on sleep. Perhaps more pertinently, if a crisis occurs and the United States is under grave threat, being able to spell “Massachusetts” will not save the nation.

The problem was that Ms. Coakley’s campaign never bothered to point any of this out. It never worked to counter Mr. Brown’s narrative, to say that knowing Curt Schilling’s name has absolutely nothing to do with being a good Senator. Instead, Ms. Coakley essentially ran a turn-out operation, desperately urging Democrats to vote rather than characterizing Mr. Brown’s narrative as wrongheaded. Nationally, Democrats panicked and ran around like chickens with their heads cut off.

In light of this analysis, it comes not as a surprise but almost as expected that Ms. Coakley performed as she did.

--Inoljt, http://mypolitikal.com/

With the polls in Obama's favor and the view of most pundits (not, of course, the consummate asshole Fred Barnes) that the election is his, I sit waiting for the expected dirty trick that Republicans are so good at pulling off. Whether it is voting machine manipulation or keeping voters away from the polls, or coming out with a new lie which is big enough to shake folks up, I don't know. But the last couple of Presidential elections have left me damned worried.

I get nervous when I see replays of joking comments like  "McCain's not a Maverick... he's a sidekick" because I remember Ann Richardson getting a big laugh when she said George W. "was born with a silver foot in his mouth."

And politicians cracking jokes have hurt the Republican side as well. I remember Giuliani (and Palin) at the Republican Convention making fun of Obama having been a "community organizer." And on the news this morning as the usual pundits evaluated the success of each of the campaigns, they attributed the great strength of the Democrats to the "organization" of the Obama team and volunteers.

So I sit watching the last speeches and get ready to volunteer this afternoon at the Obama office in Shepherdstown. And I'll be glad when it is all over.

Please get out and vote... and vote for Obama/Biden.

Under The LobsterScope

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What a difference a cycle makes. Already, we are seeing more and more great pieces written about the impact of new media on the election. It is far greater than is apparent in just the massive online fundraising numbers that Barack Obama is posting from online donors.

As Peter Daou aptly pointed out, the netroots carried forth when many traditional sources of power were silenced.

The other day Arianna brought up the fact that the Republicans are running from an old playbook, one where the traditional media takes any charge, say whether a candidate actually earned his purple hearts, and carries it forward donkey-esque as the 'other side of the story.' While this ignores a basic relationship, the opposite of the truth is a lie not another truth, it's how politics used to work (and still does partially.)

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WHAT WE HAVE LEARNED FROM CAMPAIGNS

At the end of the "Morning Joe" show each morning, each of the three regulars makes a tongue-in-cheek statement of what each has learned today. So, what have we learned from the campaigns for president? We have learned that:

You can actually see Russia from Alaska

Ordinary workers at their tasks determine the fundamental soundness of the U.S. economy

Obama's use of "look" to introduce a thought has spread to pundits and other politicians

The negative and misleading ads of the McCain campaign were caused by Obama's refusal to engage in a series of town hall debates

Small town people can be bitter and cling to guns or religion

Hillary Clinton will be ready on day one

McCain has the requisite experience; Obama gave a speech

Obama is a Christian, as far as Hillary knows

Hillary Clinton is from Scranton

Dennis Kucinich is conversant with UFOs

Dennis Kucinich has a gorgeous wife

Joe Biden can give a one word answer

Joe Biden's wife is "drop-dead gorgeous"

Ron Paul is angry, but not as angry as Mike Gravel

Sarah Palin may be kept in Social Security's lock box until the election

Sarah Palin can field dress a moose.

John McCain has heard of the e-mail and the google, but is unaware of possible use of telecommuncations and airplanes between Washington and campaign or debate locations

There is such a thing as credit default swaps

homer   www.altara.blogspot.com

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On a day when the Federal Reserve puts up an $85 Billion loan to AIG, after Lehman Brothers fell yesterday and Bank of America ate up Merril Lynch, both Presidential candidates are releasing new commercials pushing their economic plans. The economy is not likely to get better anytime soon, and neither candidate is doing anything to create new jobs, other than talk about the problem.

In comparing the two candidates' positions, Obama has a slight edge in terms of credibility: his economic plan was not created by the lobbyists and former Republican congress folk (like Phil Gramm) who got us into this mess in the first place. To hear McCain say that he is going to set up a Commission, like the 9/11 Commission that was virtually ignored by the current administration, is a confirmstion that he will talk big but do nothing. At least Obama has posted a fairly detailed economic plan that would change the government's overall approach significantly.

The best thing the political discussion on the economy has done is that it has removed the ongoing fluff about Sarah Palin from the Main Stream Media. That, in a way, is a blessed relief. Since she is not going to be interviewed directly by the press and will continue in highly controlled and scripted appearances, it is better to have the media looking away from her. There is nothing there and so many important things - like the economy - need to be on the active agenda.

As we get closer to the Presidential debates, having real issues to discuss will elevate the campaigns (and Reuters/Zogby has just put out the latest poll that has once again pulled Obama ahead  - it looks like folks don't think the "fundamentals of the economy are strong.")

Let's watch closely where we go from here. There are 48 days left.

Under The LobsterScope

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