Anyone see the debate? Reactions? (It's on the net if you missed it.)
WBZ and C-Span both have it on the net. (I tried very briefly to follow the CSpan transcript, but, to CSpan, everyone seemed to be "an unidentified voice," so I gave up.
I was very pleased with Martha's performance over all. Some of the candidates are making her run against her own record (which is fair), against Deval Patrick's record, against Obamacare and against Democrats generally. And Keller's very first question set it up that way, too.
So, Coakley has a much tougher row to hoe than the other candidates who are running as a fresh face.
His very first question made it seem as though not a single good thing has happened in Massachusetts under Patrick and it's up to Coakley to diss Patrick and undo the damage. I thought she avoided that trap very nicely.
Baker has a record, too, though. While Keller did not bring that up, Coakley did hit Baker on his record-and rightfully so-- but did not criticize the Romney administration the way that the other candidates criticized the Patrick administration. On the one hand, Romney was popular enough to get elected Governor, but so was Patrick. So, I thought letting Romney off the hook was a mixed bag.
Hitting Patrick and Coakley for not doing a good jobs with kids, but not hitting Romney for trying to prevent kids from being adopted into good homes only because the applicant(s) were gay is a miss in Massachusetts, IMO. Of all states, Massachusetts knows that same gender couples have done nothing to harm the state and have done it a lot of good. Factually, there is a lot to criticize about Romney's record, including that it was really Kennedy who got Romney and the legislature to agree about Romneycare and how Romney's admin. misrepresented facts about it, but maybe that is a political minefield.
I think the other candidates will take votes away from Baker, so that's a hopeful sign, too. Falchuk might take some votes away from both candidates. So, from Coakley's perspective, its a question of whether he will take more votes away from Baker than from Coakley. I was not able to get a strong sense of who Falchuk might hurt or help more.
Overall, I think Martha came out the winner of the debate, even though she did, IMO, have the toughest row to hoe. I came away from the debate a lot less worried of a Baker victory than I was going in.
However, as I always say, never give up on an election and never take an election for granted. The ground game is always well worth it.
