Published September 29, 2010
Remember how Martha Coakley lost to Scott Brown in January? How she barely campaigned while Brown was shaking hands at Fenway?
Coakley, McKenna (AP)
Now the attorney general faces a new challenger from out of nowhere, this time in her re-election bid. Millbury lawyer Jim McKenna, a Republican, scored an upset in his write-in campaign for the Sept. 14 primary election. It was the second time in Massachusetts history that a statewide write-in campaign succeeded.
McKenna formally launches his campaign today. On Tuesday, McKenna hired Brown’s old campaign staff. And they’re trying, again, to portray Coakley as part of the “boys and girls club.”
“Martha Coakley is wrong on illegal immigration and she has failed to prosecute the political corruption on Beacon Hill,” McKenna declares on his campaign website. “She has been more focused on prosecuting Garden Clubs than with the lawmakers stuffing bribes down their shirts.”
Coakley isn’t taking any chances. She’s campaigning. She strolled down Shrewsbury Street, Worcester’s main drag, chatting with “a car mechanic, baker, optician, nurses union officials and people on the street,” the Telegram & Gazette reported:
“I enjoy it,” she said. “All I know is that I feel badly about the perception that I don’t like meeting people. I like retail politics. Anyway, that was yesterday and I can’t change that. Now, I’m working hard. I didn’t take a summer vacation. No one is going to outwork me.”
He may not have the political muscle or money, but McKenna will sure try. ElectionWire columnist Todd Domke says Coakley is really running against the ghost of Scott Brown:
Her negatives went up dramatically during her race against Brown and, ever since, she has been viewed as a weak, disappointing candidate. It’s not easy to lose a big race like that. Many Democrats blamed her for everything. They criticized her personality and work ethic, not just her gaffes and poor debate performance. She must have felt like Mike Dukakis after he lost the race for president in 1988.
Even if McKenna can’t outwork her, he can freak her out.
Who will get your vote for attorney general?