Trying to Forget the Crushing Defeats since 2009

This article, which was written for C Line News, was written and submitted prior to Massachusetts Senatorial Special Election results were released.

BROOKLINE—The weather in Brookline is typical Massachusetts winter—32 and snowing—but the situation for the Martha Coakley campaign is unusually cold.

Attorney General and Senate Candidate Martha Coakley, who enjoyed a 30-point lead in November polls, is now neck-and-neck with opponent Scott Brown, and the race has gained the national eye.

Inside Coakley’s Coolidge Corner phone bank, however, the 30 volunteers on cell phones are having another problem: cell phone service. Many are pacing the room, saying “Can you hear me now?” as if it is part of their script.

Yet Coakley’s phone bank is one of many set up by both sides in order to speak to Massachusetts residents and “get out the vote.” In an election that has the potential to make history by electing Massachusetts’ first woman senator or confine President Obama’s Healthcare Reform plan to the history books, campaigns are looking to any source of votes to win a pivotal election.

Beacon Street and Winchester Avenue, Brookline: Martha Coakley

Among the Coakley volunteers in the room is Alan Khazei, one of Coakley’s opponents during the Democratic Primary. Khazei said that despite losing to Coakley, he is still a strong supporter of her in the special election.

“Look, running against her in the primaries, she kicked our butts,” he said. “She did fabulously. Martha is a very strong leader.”

Cindy Rowe, Chairperson of the Brookline Democratic Town committee, said that Brooklinians have been working for a while to ensure a victory for Coakley. “Here in Brookline we’ve been working since the minute the primaries ended,” she said, “to make sure that Martha Coakley gets elected as our next Senator.”

Victoria Florea, a Brookline resident and Coakley volunteer, said a Coakley loss would be “catastrophic” in stopping the late Senator’s agenda, but also that the race is of national importance. “This is a critical election in that it doesn’t have so much to do with what’s going on in Massachusetts—this is going to affect the nation.”

Merrimac Street and New Chardon Street, Boston: Scott Brown

The volunteers at Scott Brown’s Boston phone bank are not fumbling with scripts or cell phones. Instead, they are seated at tables in the Government Center office, seated at high-tech landline phones that show numbers and scripts on a black-and-white screen. The energy level, volunteers also say, is immense.

“It is one of the highest [energy campaigns] I’ve ever seen, and not only that, it’s one of the best-organized campaigns I’ve ever seen,” said John Downing Jr., Former Chair of the Cambridge Republican City Committee.

The focus is great: Brown’s 30 volunteers, who are younger than Coakley’s, push buttons on their phones and smile while telling the Massachusetts voters on the other line just why their candidate is better than Coakley. Their biggest selling point is charisma: “He’s got universal appeal and a lot of passion,” Downing said.

The excitement was not wasted on Robin Newberger, a New York Resident who took a trip to Boston to support Brown’s campaign. “This campaign gave me the ability to stop complaining and start doing something,” she said. “I’ve been so frustrated and so upset about what’s going on in this country…and I just felt ‘wow, you can go out and vote in the 41st senator.’”

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There are fewer than 36 hours before results return from the Secretary of State, but both parties agree that the election is very close. Downing, with a smile, says it all: “it’s coming right down to the wire.”