If liberals had to stick to the facts, well, there would be no liberals.
We were talking about this on a radio discussion board. Someone said the biggest factor was the candidate himself, making himself available to anyone...
My reply:
There is such as thing as playing to the choir, which he did, but he also brought people in who might not have even considered voting for him as well, a big plus (including conservatives and moderates of the
“he won’t win, I won’t bother voting” or “I only like him on some issues” varieties; his radio appearances helped seal the deal). Probably the biggest factor was the poll which had him only 9 points behind, and talk radio helped—helped, not created—to raise a buzz that, hey, it could happen, and similar buzz about the disaster that was Coakley and her campaign. Add to this a perfect storm of “maybe it is time for a change”... “we need to send a message”...the health care vote situation...
and get people doing water cooler talk, talk at the morning coffee joint, and so on. Word of mouth and some other media (including the ads, which were handled by Romney people) were part of it but talk
radio did play a part as well—the candidate himself being the most important part. Without him and
his personality, etc., it would not have worked.
Had Coakley done the same thing it may have saved her, maybe not. People might have also found themselves saying they liked her, but they also had to like her message. Ultimately enough doubt was
found in both situations.