Martha Coakley

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State to Town: Sorry, People Are Allowed to Swear

Massachusetts AG asks Middleborough to scrap rule

(Newser) - Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley is recommending that the town of Middleborough change or repeal a bylaw that prohibits public profanity . The town approved a proposal this summer that would allow police to enforce the 1968 ban by imposing a $20 fine on people who engage in loud swearing in...

Massachusetts Sues Big Banks Over Mortgage Fraud

Says it will not sign onto any lenient robosigning settlement

(Newser) - Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley—best remembered for her failed campaign against Scott Brown —has filed a lawsuit against Bank of America, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Ally Financial over alleged mortgage fraud offenses, including the “robo-signing” scandal. The suit also names MERSCORP which produces an electronic...

Gillibrand Is Coakley 2.0

 Gillibrand Is 
 Coakley 2.0 
OPINION

Gillibrand Is Coakley 2.0

New York's incumbent can't communicate, and that could be her downfall

(Newser) - Kirsten Gillibrand bears a lot of unfortunate similarities to Martha Coakley, and could soon suffer the same fate. Like Coakley, she assumes she’s in for a cakewalk, with the full weight of her party behind her in a mostly-blue state. And like Coakley, she has “dreadful communication skills,...

Romneycare Did In Obamacare
 Romneycare Did In Obamacare 
OPINION

Romneycare Did In Obamacare

Mass. already has even-more-liberal health plan—why aid others?

(Newser) - Mitt Romney didn’t help Scott Brown win by campaigning for him, Timothy Noah writes, but by giving Massachusetts universal health care four years ago. Sure, the senator-elect and the former governor railed against Obamacare as a “one size fits all” health reform plan, but they were being disingenuous....

Prez Contradictions Caught Up With Dems
 Prez Contradictions 
 Caught Up With Dems 
OPINION

Prez Contradictions Caught Up With Dems

Obama can't do big things while avoiding fights

(Newser) - The contradictions inherent in what President Obama promised to do have caught up with the Democrats big time with their loss in Massachusetts, writes E.J. Dionne Jr. The president couldn't accomplish big things while also changing the tone of Washington, or deliver sweeping change while also steering clear of...

Beware Overconfidence, GOP
 Beware Overconfidence, GOP 
WARNS RIGHTY BLOGGER

Beware Overconfidence, GOP

Brown victory can galvanize Dems, warns righty blogger

(Newser) - Republican confidence is sky-high after Scott Brown’s win, but, conservative blogger Mindy Finn warns, the “victory is an enormous opportunity—for the Democrats … if we repeat the mistakes of the past in interpreting a ‘change’ election.” But yesterday’s election showed that voters “have...

Coakley's Next Move: Re-Election

After loss to Scott Brown, she will work for new term as AG

(Newser) - Martha Coakley isn't done with politics yet: She'll be running for re-election as Massachusetts attorney general in the fall. "She loves her job," says her spokesman. "Many of the issues she discussed during this campaign are issues she's already fully engaged in as attorney general—holding Wall...

Obama: Health Bill Must Wait for Scott Brown

He tells Senate not to 'jam' it through before he's in place

(Newser) - President Obama said today the Senate should wait for Scott Brown before moving ahead on health care reform. "Here's one thing I want to make sure that this is off the table: The Senate certainly shouldn't try to jam anything through until Scott Brown is seated," the president...

Coakley Loss: 6 Ways Dems Will Have to Change
 Coakley Loss: 6 Ways Dems Will Have to Change
OPINION

Coakley Loss: 6 Ways Dems Will Have to Change

Supermajority is gone, sure, but so is entire Democratic strategy

(Newser) - “While the sun will still come out on Beacon Hill and Capitol Hill” now that Republican Scott Brown has won Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat, Ron Elving writes on NPR , “the political globe will have a new tilt.” Here, six things that have changed:
  • The supermajority: That's
...

Obama's Lost the Middle Class
 Obama's Lost the 
 Middle Class  
OPINION

Obama's Lost the Middle Class

President has appeared to aloof, business-friendly

(Newser) - Barack Obama knows now, if he didn’t already, that he has a genuine political crisis on his hands. Blame Martha Coakley if you like, but even she could have won if Obama and his policies had been more popular in Massachusetts, contends John Judis of the New Republic. Bloggers...

'Drunk' Voters: What Happened Last Night?
 'Drunk' Voters: 
 What Happened 
 Last Night? 
SEDUCED BY A STRANGER

'Drunk' Voters: What Happened Last Night?

Who was that handsome man in the barn jacket?

(Newser) - Globe columnist Brian McGrory portrays Massachusetts voters as power-inebriated sots who will have a hell of a hangover today as they realize whose bed they're in. So "drunk on power, so free of any of my usual inhibitions, I can't remember what's gone on," writes McGrory , posing as...

Mass. Vote Wasn't About Health Care
 Mass. Vote 
 Wasn't About 
 Health Care 
OPINION

Mass. Vote Wasn't About Health Care

Bay State has already got health care reform, writes Steven Pearlstein

(Newser) - The Democrats' Bay State shocker is bad news for health care reform but it certainly wasn't a referendum on it, writes Steven Pearlstein. Massachusetts voters have a long history of electing Republican governors and senators to offset the Democratic-dominated state legislature so it's no surprise that they chose Scott Brown...

Kennedy Son: Voters Wanted 'Blood'

'Unorganized' Dems did poor sales job in Mass. race

(Newser) - The Republican victory for Ted Kennedy's seat proves voters are "out for blood," said the late senator's son. Voters want a "whipping boy" to blame for the lost jobs and foreclosed homes of the economic crisis, said Rhode Island Rep. Patrick Kennedy. "It's like in the...

Brown Wins Mass. Senate Seat
 Brown Wins Mass. Senate Seat 
UPDATED

Brown Wins Mass. Senate Seat

Republican upset puts Dems' national agenda at risk

(Newser) - Scott Brown scored an enormous Republican upset today, winning the Massachusetts US Senate seat long held by the late Ted Kennedy by a 52%-47% margin over Democrat Martha Coakley. The loss sunders the Democrats’ filibuster-proof, 60-vote supermajority in the Senate, and throws into doubt the future of health-care reform—along...

Voters Losing Faith in Obama, Democrats
Voters Losing Faith in
Obama, Democrats
NEW POLL

Voters Losing Faith in Obama, Democrats

People split on which party should control Congress; first time since '03

(Newser) - President Obama is still personally popular with voters, but approval of his party continues to slip and galvanize support for Republicans, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC poll shows. Voters are split 41%-41% on which party should control Congress after November—the first time voters haven't favored Democrats in this poll...

Steele: RNC Built 'Model' Campaign for Scott Brown

GOP group worked 'behind the scenes' with Massachusetts candidate

(Newser) - If Scott Brown pulls off a Massachusetts victory tonight, Michael Steele wants to be sure that he and his Republican National Committee get their share of the credit. The RNC has been "working very diligently behind the scenes" for 3 months, he wrote in a memo to members obtained...

Turnout High in Mass. as Dems Point Fingers

Axelrod says White House would have done more earlier if asked

(Newser) - Voter turnout is heavy in Massachusetts, but without exit polls it won't be clear until after the polls close at 8pm whether Scott Brown or Martha Coakley will be a senator. Based on comments and emails floating about, Democrats are terrified:
  • A Coakley adviser fired off an angry email, obtained
...

Brown Mania Grips Massachusetts
 Brown Mania Grips 
 Massachusetts 
fans love 'hottie mcawesome'

Brown Mania Grips Massachusetts

Bay State Republicans invigorated by their pickup truck-driving candidate

(Newser) - The enthusiasm gap in Massachusetts today looks more like a chasm. Everywhere Scott Brown went yesterday he found himself bombarded by euphoric fans. Some were bused in, sure, and some were from out of state, “but most were Massachusetts conservatives who felt like their votes mattered for the first...

Brown a 74% Favorite in Mass. Senate Race
 Brown a 74% Favorite 
 in Mass. Senate Race 
Nate Silver

Brown a 74% Favorite in Mass. Senate Race

Flood of polls come in favoring GOP

(Newser) - Scott Brown is now a 3:1 favorite to win today’s Senate race in Massachusetts, according to FiveThirtyEight.com’s much-vaunted forecasting model. A host of recent polls give Coakley steadily worsening numbers, so the site, which correctly predicted all 35 Senate races in 2008, rates the race as...

Mass. Election Could Seal Fate of Health Reform

Dems' options if Brown wins not looking good

(Newser) - With polls showing the majority of Americans opposed to the Democrats' health care reform bill, a victory for Scott Brown in Massachusetts today could sound the death of the party's yearlong effort at health reform. If Dems try to proceed with the reforms in the wake of a Brown victory,...

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