the Informer

When Scott Brown begins his term as junior senator from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, it won’t be the result of this widespread shift to Republican ideology or pragmatism–instead, it will be seen as one of the biggest failures of a political party and a candidate in recent history.

Sure–the widespread belief is that Al “I invented the Internet” Gore lost the election on that misrepresented quotation, but if that were the only bad PR-move made by his campaign, and that the election hadn’t been so hotly contested by two candidates who appealed to their bases, he likely would have won.

Perhaps Massachusetts Senator John Kerry, could have made it to the White House four years after Bush defeated Al Gore, but it was his sheer inability to be remotely interesting– plus the cries of ‘Four more years!” and “Don’t change horses in midstream” and the escalating wars– caved in his ability to win in a climate fearful of the “next” terrorist attack.

But when you compare those two presidential PR disasters that cost them elections, Martha Coakley’s campaign will be another footnote on failed campaigns due to terrible public relations.

Coakley didn’t need to have a flawless campaign to glide to victory in the bluest state in the nation–she just needed to show up and put in an effort that made it look like she was trying to win for the benefit for her state. Instead, the candidate acted like a slacker– and just showed up, but showed a disconnect with the constituents.

Moments like when she refuted her opponent, Republican Scott Brown, and his tactic of standing outside in the bitter cold of a Boston winter and greeting supporters. Let me ask Coakley a question, when and where was it that President Barack Obama declared his candidacy for president? In the bitter cold of a Chicago winter. Her memory can’t be that bad, right?

Many have called it a “miscalculation” on the part of Coakley’s campaign that they thought even a Republican who campaigned (and basically ran three times the amount of commercials on Boston television stations, including political action committees) wouldn’t have even the slightest chance of overcoming the odds in a state like Massachusetts.

That wasn’t all, there were other PR disasters like when she mistook Curt Schilling, Red Sox Nation’s hero in 2004, for a Yankee fan, or her staff misspelled “Massachusetts” in a campaign advertisement is beyond a miscalculation–it’s being negligent.

This election was framed as a national referendum on countless things: Obama, the Democrats, health care — and the list could go on. While it will likely turn out to delay passage of Edward M. Kennedy’s lifelong battle to bring reform in that sector, I think that it will inevitably pass through the Senate, likely before Obama completes his first term in the White House.

Regardless, Coakley is a failed candidate with a botched campaign and PR blunders that will likely stay in the minds of anyone with an interest in politics. It’s fascinating, but also disturbing that, in this climate when health care reform needed to be passed, according to the Democrats, this failure will blemish the party as a whole.

If anything, it will push the Democrats–who still maintain a majority in the Senate after this election– to work harder without the filibuster-proof supermajority and come to a common sense conclusion on reform.
It’s only fitting that Coakley’s Web site features an empty podium among many supporters: a metaphor for an empty candidacy.

Photo courtesy of Boston.com