Posted on 01/20/2010 4:16:38 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Martha Coakley’s campaign had originally planned on spending less money in the general election against Scott Brown than it had spent winning the Democratic primary, its chief strategist said in an interview today.
Many people had expected the four-way primary to be tougher than the general election against Mr. Brown, a little-known Republican state senator. So the Coakley campaign, which spent roughly $5 million to win the Democratic nomination, entered the general election with only about $450,000 left and plans to spend only about $1.8 million against Mr. Brown in the final stretch, which was less than two months long.
At first things looked like they were conforming to plan. A poll the campaign conducted just before Christmas showed Martha Coakley, the Democratic attorney general, with a 19-point_lead over Mr. Brown, said Dennis Newman, the Coakley campaign’s chief strategist. Ms. Coakley took some time off the trail to celebrate Christmas, prepare for the debate, film ads and try to raise money.
Mr. Brown filled his days full of appearances and put ads on television; the Coakley campaign stayed dark, marshalling its resources for the final two weeks, which had been its plan all along. Just after New Year’s, though, public polls showed the race tightening, setting off alarms. But Mr. Newman said many donors felt tapped out from giving money in the primary, and many did not believe the race could be close.
“We were concerned, we were working hard, Martha was on the phones trying to raise money, which was difficult,’’ Mr. Newman said.
The polls were energizing Republicans, he said. “The one big concern that we had was if national groups came in and gave Scott_Brown money or support, it could be problematic,’’ he said. After public polls showed the race tightening he said, “outside groups became involved.’’(continued)
(Excerpt) Read more at thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com ...
Smells like a BS excuse. If money were the key issue, all Martha would’ve had to done is ask Uncle George Soros for some pocket change. After all, he owns the party.
I guess it was understandable for the Coakley campaign to overestimate the appeal of their mediocre candidate, when you consider that Massachusetts has been represented for some years in the U.S. Senate by one guy who belongs on “The Addams Family” and another one who belongs on a public service ad against drunk driving.
Wow! Fantastic article. Confirms a lot of speculation about the Coakley campaign, including the real state of their finances.
In that regard, they are not better than our version of the USSR nomenklatura.
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