Stunning Race Outcome Sends Republican to D.C.
Martha Coakley’s stunning upset to Scott Brown in the Massachusetts Senate race tonight is not about dissatisfaction with the economy and the Obama Administration. It’s about a talented but bland candidate who stacked up less favorably in comparison to her charismatic male opponent.
Whether you’re the engaging Sarah Palin or the pragmatic Hillary Clinton, if you’re a female, you’ll face vicious critics. Coakley’s regional bid didn’t generate the same level of nastiness that the two national female candidates experienced during the 2008 Presidential campaign but only because the timeline was short and took place over the Christmas holiday when many were distracted, leaving less time for scrutiny. But make no mistake, Coakley lost votes because of her gender and because we still struggle with subconscious beliefs about female roles in this country.
That combined with her cool persona cost her the election.
Coakley’s campaign biography doesn’t specify where she grew up, but media outlets report that it was North Adams, Mass., where she was the third of five children. She comes across as a stereotypical New Englander, distant, smart, capable, but lacking in personality. That persona doesn’t play well nationally and it probably hurt her fundraising endeavors as the campaign wore on.
Brown’s image, on the other hand, played so well in the national media, that my elderly mother in Florida was encouraging me to vote for him. (Her position didn’t influence me, and I don’t reveal my voting choices—even to my children).
Brown, a Republican state senator from Wrentham, appealed to the nation’s conservative kingmakers, and in the final weeks of the campaign money began pouring in from all over the country.
Among the supporters was former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, a 2008 Presidential candidate, who said he lent Brown his donor list and his campaign organizers.
Brown also used the Internet effectively to raise money.
The funding allowed Brown to clog the airwaves with his campaign ads and call households incessantly with automated messages that addressed the voter by name. I’ve lost count of how many times I heard Brown say “Joyce.” Sometime the calls appeared as “unknowns” on caller identification, and other times as “private callers.” For some inexplicable reason, I listened to the messages.
Coakley’s ads were all over the media, as well. But their negativity caused me to stop listening, and her phone calls were less frequent and, consequently, less memorable—even though it was a hoot to hear former President Bill Clinton and US Representative Niki Tsongas, a Democrat, on my voice mail.
Brown had other attributes. He was good looking enough in his youth to pose naked in a Cosmopolitan centerfold piece. He’s got a famous daughter and a wife who is regionally recognizable because of her news reporting career.
We know about him and his family, because he told us about them. Tonight was the first time ever that I heard Coakley’s husband’s name—Thomas J. O’Connor Jr.–and learned that he is a retired police officer. In fairness, O’Connor’s photo is on her campaign web site, but I never went there before tonight. The couple resides in Medford.
Coakley’s concession speech was gracious and inspiring—perhaps the best performance we’ve seen since her campaign began.
“Sometimes it’s better to travel hopefully,” she said, “then to arrive.”
Her loss will be dissected in the weeks to come and a national movement to elect more female candidates will feel the setback. Coakley, a Democrat, is the state Attorney General.
But tonight Brown is reveling in his victory. As I write this, he’s praising the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy and Kennedy’s widow Victoria, and introducing his family: daughters, Arianna, a Syracuse University student; and Ayla, a student at Boston College and a former American Idol semi-finalist; and wife Gail Huff, a local broadcast journalist.
“Arianna’s not available, but Ayla definitely is,” Brown joked about his unmarried daughters.
Brown thanked Romney for his help with the campaign, and acknowledged support from Arizona Senator John McCain, the Republican candidate in the 2008 Presidential campaign, whom he called “a true hero.”
“He told me I could win, and gave me confidence,” said Brown.
Brown said he knew things were going well with his campaign when he saw a hand-painted “Scott Brown” lawn sign popping out of a snow bank “that I didn’t put up myself.” He won 52 percent of the votes as compared to Coakley’s 47 percent.
During the campaign, Brown voiced his opposition to the pending health care reform bill which requires a supermajority of at least 60 votes in the 100-member Senate to pass. Senate supporters and opponents split down party lines on December 24 when the measure passed. But 39 out of 40 Republicans denied it, with Senator Jim Bunning, a Kentucky Republican, not voting.
In November, the House had passed its own version. The two bills must now be merged into one and a final vote taken in both chambers before President Barack Obama signs it into law.
Because passage in the Senate requires a two-thirds majority, Brown’s presence shifts the balance of power away from the Democrats who have been accused of cutting back room deals to sway the votes of a handful of wavering Democratic and Independent Senators.
“I will work with the Senate to reform health care in an open way,” Brown said. “No more back room deals.”
Brown has said that he hopes to cast the 41st vote against the bill.
“One thing is clear as I travel throughout the state,” he said. “People don’t want the trillion dollar health care plan that’s being forced on them. It will raise taxes, hurt Medicare, destroy jobs and run our nation deeper into debt…We can do better.”
It’s hard to gauge whether his position on health care helped him win, since Massachusetts passed a health care reform bill in 2006, and it has been a successful and popular program.
I don’t think it was Brown’s positions or political platform that won the election for him. It was simply and shallowly the image he projected. He looks like a senator. And let’s face it—we’re still not ready for women to lead this country. Just ask Hillary…or even Sarah.
JOYCE PELLINO CRANE
