Energy and Stealth of G.O.P. Groups Undid a Sure Bet
By ADAM NAGOURNEY, JEFF ZELENY, KATE ZERNIKE and MICHAEL COOPER
NYT
BOSTON — The e-mail message from a Massachusetts supporter to one of the leaders of the Tea Party movement arrived in early December. The state was holding a special election to fill the seat held by Senator Edward M. Kennedy, it said, and conditions were ripe for a conservative ambush: an Election Day in the dead of winter with the turnout certain to be low.
“To be honest, we kind of looked at it and said, this is a long shot,” said Brendan Steinhauser, the director of state campaigns for FreedomWorks, which has become an umbrella for the Tea Party groups. But the group was impressed by the determination of organizers inside this most Democratic state, and was intrigued by the notion that this could be a way to effectively derail the health care bill in the Senate.
And so FreedomWorks sent out a query to dozens of its best organizers across the country. Within days, the clamoring response made clear that what seemed like the longest of shots suddenly seemed very attainable; within weeks, the Tea Party movement had established a beachhead in Mr. Kennedy’s home state.
While conservatives quietly mobilized behind a state senator, Scott Brown, to fill Mr. Kennedy’s seat, Democrats barely paid attention to a contest that by every indication and history should have been nothing to worry about. Martha Coakley, the attorney general and Democratic Party candidate, barely campaigned in the weeks after winning her primary.
(Continued here.)
NYT
BOSTON — The e-mail message from a Massachusetts supporter to one of the leaders of the Tea Party movement arrived in early December. The state was holding a special election to fill the seat held by Senator Edward M. Kennedy, it said, and conditions were ripe for a conservative ambush: an Election Day in the dead of winter with the turnout certain to be low.
“To be honest, we kind of looked at it and said, this is a long shot,” said Brendan Steinhauser, the director of state campaigns for FreedomWorks, which has become an umbrella for the Tea Party groups. But the group was impressed by the determination of organizers inside this most Democratic state, and was intrigued by the notion that this could be a way to effectively derail the health care bill in the Senate.
And so FreedomWorks sent out a query to dozens of its best organizers across the country. Within days, the clamoring response made clear that what seemed like the longest of shots suddenly seemed very attainable; within weeks, the Tea Party movement had established a beachhead in Mr. Kennedy’s home state.
While conservatives quietly mobilized behind a state senator, Scott Brown, to fill Mr. Kennedy’s seat, Democrats barely paid attention to a contest that by every indication and history should have been nothing to worry about. Martha Coakley, the attorney general and Democratic Party candidate, barely campaigned in the weeks after winning her primary.
(Continued here.)
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