Despite all the press the Brown vs. Coakley race has gotten in recent days, I really didn’t hold out any hope that Brown could win. I mean, this is Massachusetts we are talking about here. Republicans just don’t win elections in MA, in the recent history anyway.
However, I stumbled across this story today and I am almost without words.
The Massachusetts special election continues to amaze. Democratic candidate Martha Coakley has taken a swipe at Fenway Park fans:
Coakley bristles at the suggestion that, with so little time left, in an election with such high stakes, she is being too passive.
“As opposed to standing outside Fenway Park? In the cold? Shaking hands?” she fires back, in an apparent reference to a Brown online video of him doing just that.Well yes, politicians go out to meet the voters even if it means standing out in the cold. At least politicians who want to win in Massachusetts.What amazes me here is the lack of awareness by Coakley and her staff. Baseball holds a special level of importance in Boston and in Massachusetts. Fenway Park isn’t just some place that some silly local team plays. It is Fenway. Home of the beloved Red Sox. If you spend any time out and among the people of Boston you will hear and be invited to join conversations about the the Red Sox. It is part of the fabric of the city. To dismiss Fenway and the cold (and the people that it represents) as being beneath you is a staggeringly dumb thing to say in Boston. As expected, it is not playing well.
Coakley’s slap shot at Fenway fans was the talk of the popular local Howie Carr radio show in Boston today. Carr is a Brown supporter, and Coakley’s refusal to greet the fans outside Fenway was a focus of the show.
Maybe Coakley forgot how near and dear Fenway was to Ted Kennedy, who threw out the first pitch last season in what everyone knew would be his last opening day. Or the Tribute to Kennedy in August at Fenway.
Insulting Fenway fans. Now that’s a plan.I still don’t hold out much hope that Brown can win this election. By all rights he should, but when the playing field is so far away from level it is almost vertical there is only so much you can do. But Coakley as continues to panic and continues to blunder, the chance of a walk-off home run for Brown increases, however small it may be.
