State Senate races

We've got two special elections for open Senate seats going on right now. Key dates:

Primary: April 13
General: May 11

Candidates:

Norfolk, Bristol & Middlesex (Brown's seat)
Lida Harkins (D)
Peter Smulowitz (D)
Richard Ross (R)

Middlesex, Suffolk & Essex (Galluccio's seat)
Michael Albano (D)
Dennis Benzan (D)
Sal DiDomenico (D)
Tim Flaherty (D)
Dan Hill (D)
Denise Simmons (D)

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BMG interviews Martha Coakley

by: David

Sat Sep 12, 2009 at 00:03:25 AM EDT

Martha Coakley was kind enough to sit down with the three of us this afternoon for about half an hour to talk about the Senate race, and about what she hopes to accomplish if she wins. We've divided the interview up by question for easier consumption. Our thanks to Coakley's staff for setting this up, and for video assistance.

Opening softball: why run for Senate?

David :: BMG interviews Martha Coakley

Question: can you carry on Ted Kennedy's legacy of getting things done in the Senate?

Question: what committees would you want to be on?

Question: hey, what about global warming?

Question: aren't you from western Mass.? What about that?

Question: can we get western Mass. all broadbanded up?

Question: what about the woman thing?

Question: Bernie Madoff is a bad man!

Tags: BMG, Coakley, Senate, (All Tags)

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BMG interviews Martha Coakley | 14 comments

THANK you BMG & Thank you Martha (6.00 / 2)

For setting this up, making this interview available, and for the content here.

Deborah Sirotkin Butler
AmberPaw dot @aol.com

"Failure to plan is planning to fail."
Proverb

by: AmberPaw @ Sat Sep 12, 2009 at 05:46:21 AM CDT

by: you @ soon

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What a pleasure to watch an interview where the subject speaks at (6.00 / 1)

length to each question. Thanks for doing this excellent interview, BMG proprietors, and thanks to Martha Coakley and her campaign for giving those of us in blogland a chance to get to know her a little better.

by: LynPB @ Sat Sep 12, 2009 at 09:06:01 AM CDT

by: you @ soon

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Ack, that was Bean again, having once again forgotten to log out Lynpb (6.00 / 1)

At least this time, I don't think she'll object to the sentiment.

"Perseverance is a great element of success. If you knock long enough and loud enough at the gate, you are sure to wake up somebody." -Longfellow

by: Bean in the 'Burbs @ Sat Sep 12, 2009 at 09:15:48 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

by: you @ soon

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A five minute answer to why I'm running that says nothing. (4.00 / 1)

Good Lord. Martha Coakley may be highly competent at her job, but she makes a terrible candidate. She constructs sentences like Sarah Palin, and it just grates on my nerves to no end. I'm sorry I can't get past the past the inarticulate rambling.

I agree with Martha Coakley on the issues. I think she is doing a fine job as Attorney General. I'd like to see us elect a woman to the Senate. But I am scared to death that she will lose to a Republican in the general. Can't we get someone more dynamic?

by: Jim Gosger @ Sat Sep 12, 2009 at 09:15:13 AM CDT

by: you @ soon

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Wow, did we listen to the same clip? (6.00 / 3)

I heard a series of specific points that give a full and thoughtful answer to the question.

Government should work for everyone, but there's a balance needed to ensure that laws and regulations don't get in the way. The balance needs better tuning.
She understands she'll have big shoes to fill, but she thinks she has the skills and experience to take on the key issues: economy, energy, healthcare.
She has the experience to tackle the job. Skills in preparing and analyzing arguments as assistant DA. Skills in getting stakeholders to the table and to agreement from her advocacy work. Skills from her work as AG in making sure the laws work for all and ensuring large corporations' accountability.
She hopes to tackle issues with Kennedy's spirit.
She hopes to bring her experience with the issues that affect Massachusetts to bear to represent Massachusetts well and also to contribute to nationally in areas where Massachusetts has been a leader, such as healthcare.

"Perseverance is a great element of success. If you knock long enough and loud enough at the gate, you are sure to wake up somebody." -Longfellow

by: Bean in the 'Burbs @ Sat Sep 12, 2009 at 09:54:19 AM CDT

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by: you @ soon

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Your summary is well written, (5.00 / 2)

But it's not what she said. Here's a direct quote;

"Why I'm running for the Senate, particularly because I believe that government should work well, and it should work for everybody. It needs to, um, do the kinds of things that we expect government to do, to keep people safe, to work on education, ah and it has to get out of the way when other enterprise, private sector, businesses that are growing, um, need to be able to do their work, and getting that balance right is difficult, and I think it has not been as finely tuned as it should be. I think we have an opening in the U.S. Senate, ah and although we know we cannot fill Ted Kennedy's shoes, it's a huge loss for the state and for the country, and frankly I don't think we even begin to know how much we are going to miss him."

That is rambling. I think she has good ideas, but she can't express them. This is a question that she has prepared for!

by: Jim Gosger @ Sat Sep 12, 2009 at 10:37:41 AM CDT

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by: you @ soon

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If you capture any unscripted speaker verbatim (6.00 / 1)

You will see that they do not speak in neat, grammatical sentences. Yet we all converse and understand each other without trouble every day. I certainly did not have any trouble when listening to this clip in understanding Coakley's meaning or reproducing it. If you listen to the entire clip, you will hear everything I noted.

"Perseverance is a great element of success. If you knock long enough and loud enough at the gate, you are sure to wake up somebody." -Longfellow

by: Bean in the 'Burbs @ Sat Sep 12, 2009 at 19:48:11 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Do you have plans to invite Capuano and Lynch (6.00 / 1)

to do similar interviews? This was great and a very helpful service in getting to know the candidates.

by: liveandletlive @ Sat Sep 12, 2009 at 09:58:15 AM CDT

by: you @ soon

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Absolutely -- if they ever enter the race! ;-) (6.00 / 1)

by: David @ Sat Sep 12, 2009 at 10:27:01 AM CDT

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by: you @ soon

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Saw them both today in the 5th CD (0.00 / 0)

At the 2nd Annual Thank You to Labor with Congresswoman Niki Tsongas, both Capuano and Lynch where there and said their piece.

Coakley had nom papers floating the room, as did Capuano.

I signed both, though I'm supporting Coakley. It irks me when folks won't do that. I mean, puhleeeze. Are we that tribal? We are talking nom papers, not an ActBlue autodeposit.

A consensus formed from the echo of parrots, is no consensus.
I'm Jack Mitchell and I'm confused by this message.

by: John from Lowell @ Sat Sep 12, 2009 at 15:07:15 PM CDT

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by: you @ soon

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Capuano had volunteers collecting signatures at Barney Frank's town hall today (6.00 / 1)

If he's not in, it was a wasted trip out in the rain for them.

It would be great to have interviews with the other candidates if and when they make it official.

Of course, if you interview Scott Brown, you might have to be prepared to bleep out parts of his responses if his past behavior is any indication.

"Perseverance is a great element of success. If you knock long enough and loud enough at the gate, you are sure to wake up somebody." -Longfellow

by: Bean in the 'Burbs @ Sat Sep 12, 2009 at 19:54:59 PM CDT

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by: you @ soon

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Having lived through the Ed King era (0.00 / 0)

I admit to being very sensitive to this issue. But I like my political candidates to be clear, concise and direct. None of those words apply to Martha Coakley's discourse. All I'm saying is that this is a problem. If her advisors don't fix this (and it can be fixed) it will cause her to lose, sooner or later. I'm just hoping it's not in the general election to a republican.

by: Jim Gosger @ Sun Sep 13, 2009 at 09:32:23 AM CDT

[ Parent ]