And Now, the Blame Game
Chris Cillizza has a piece on the Democratic blame game in full force in Massachusetts.
Less than 24 hours removed from state Attorney General Martha Coakley’s (D) stunning loss in the Massachusetts Senate race, Democrats were at daggers-drawn over whose fault it was. Two rival camps quickly emerged: Coakley’s campaign (and consultant — in particular pollster Celinda Lake) versus national Democrats. From a Coakley campaign adviser came a strongly worded memo, arguing that she had consistently raised concern about voter apathy in advance of the special election and asked for fundraising help that she never received from national Democrats. One senior party official dismissed the memo as a “pack of lies” and — in a memo rebutting the Coakley memo — made several points including: 1) National Democrats had contacted the campaign on Jan. 2 asking what could be done to help and didn’t hear back for four days. 2) The money problems were Coakley’s and hers alone; “If the Coakley campaign did have money troubles perhaps it was because the candidate and campaign went on hiatus/vacation for the last 10 days of December,” read the memo. 3) “Remember — the most notable events of the last week had nothing to do with the national Democratic Party — it was: Schilling is a Yankee, telling voters she didn’t need to shake their hands, a Disastrous trip to Washington DC and a terrible debate performance,” read the memo. The simple fact — as we noted last night — is that everyone from the White House to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee to the Coakley campaign deserves their share of blame.
Frank says: