Ok, after talking to a few “lefty” friends in the Boston area. Here’s the inside scoop.
I don’t think this election is about health care at all. In Mass., most reasonable folks across the political spectrum have become skeptical about Obamacare as a spinelessly-crafted, counterproductive, corporate boondoggle. It’s just MSM spin that the race is a referendum on Healthcare.
And Massachusetts is not the hotbed of liberalism it is portrayed as in the media (often by right-wing pols and commentators). Most voters support the death penalty and oppose gay marriage, for example. There’s mixed feelings about the war. While it’s true the Democratic party controls the state legislature and Congressional delegations, there has always been a schism between the proverbial “Cambridge” liberal democrats and the blue collar “Southie-Dorchester” socially-conservative dems, often Irish Catholic. They have also had several Republican governors.
As in most states, elections in Mass. are decided by the independents, but even some registered Dems, and many women, have apparently abandoned Coakley. This election is really about two things: (1) a protest vote against Obama and his false promise of “change”; and (2) a response to good vs. bad politicking.
