Three Perspectives on Massachusetts

Three Perspectives on Massachusetts

I was in the bubble of our own local election so I don't have much analysis on the Massachusetts loss. But here's some stuff cribbed from others:

Nate Silver: "If you follow through on the math, this would suggest that Coakley would have won by about 8 points, rather than losing by 5, had the national environment not deteriorated so significantly for Democrats. It suggests that the Democrats would have won by 9 points, rather than losing by 5, had the candidate been someone other than Coakley."

Kos diarist catlover72 with the All Politics Is Local perspective:

This is about local infighting in the Massachusetts Democratic Party, plain and simple. During the primary, Western Mass backed Martha Coakley (who is from Western Mass) because her primary opponent, Mike Capuano, a current U.S. House Rep from Somerville, was from Somerville not Western Mass.

Capuano would probably have won easily had he not lost the primary (he never has a serious challenge when he runs for his House seat).

Coakley, on the other hand, not only dropped the ball as everyone knows, but no politicians in Boston wanted their names associated with her after she won the primary.

Steven Pearlstein at the WaPo on health care prospects:

The Constitution does not require 60 votes in the Senate to pass a health reform bill -- or anything else, for that matter. There is very little in the latest version of the health-care bill that Maine's two Republican senators haven't supported in the past or couldn't support in the future. In succumbing to the intense social and political pressure from their caucus, both Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins flunked the leadership test last year. Massachusetts has now given them a second chance to redeem their reputations and political fortunes in a state that has always valued independence over party loyalty.