Holding my nose

[drwex]

I'm almost certainly going to hold my nose and vote for Coakley for governor. Polls have shown her in a dead heat with the Republican, whom I dislike even more. WBUR's polls show Baker gaining ground with my demographics (white, older male, unenrolled). [deleted erroneous attribution.] Generally, I do not like the way Coakley has used the power of her office.

I wish I could like Baker more. But he seems too cut from the same mold as Scott Brown, playing populist anti-tax notes while still pandering to big moneyed interests. Basically, he smells like weasel to me. And I'm genuinely afraid he'd take his pro-charter stance all the way into attacking schools and teachers. Coakley's no winner on this issue either, but I don't believe she'd be willing to scapegoat teachers the way I think Baker would.

Comments

[marius23.livejournal.com]

Yeah, this is even more of a lesser-of-two-evils than most....

[frobzwiththingz.livejournal.com]

I'm also holding my nose, but the other way. I won't dispute anything you've said about Baker. However my individual issues ranking places Prison-Industrial-Complex and ciriminal justice issues as far outweighing the financial ones. I do NOT wish to see what sort of people Coakley would appoint to our state court system, outliving her tenure by pretty much the rest of my lifespan. I want her political career nuked from orbit with extreme prejudice, and am more than willing to accept 4 years of Baker with a predominantly Democratic legislature for him to fight against in exchange. I completely shudder at the idea of a Police-State-Uber-Alles leader with a compliant same-party legislature underneath her.

I regret that I cannot legally cancel out more than a single vote for her, but that is what I can do, and I will at least do that.

[drwex]

I hear you and sympathize. Having kids in schools and friends who teach tends to make me very tetchy about educational issues. I also don't think the Lege is quite all that compliant. But, yeah. I was happy to vote against Coakley in the primary and sad she won anyway.

[dcltdw]

Huh. That's an interesting take: if Coakley loses, does that end her career? So, take Baker for 4 years in exchange for finally sinking Coakley.

Hum.

[drwex]

Yeah, it's a calculus.

[frobzwiththingz.livejournal.com]

I can't guarantee that, but I have a hard time imagining the main party machine being willing to support her for a *third* time after having been burned twice already. Regardless, having her *win* certainly doesn't help with that goal. Baker will get 1 term, (unless he actually ends up being neutral to decent), and in the meantime perhaps a *decent* candidate can be found.

I'm *much* happier with Senator Warren than Senator Coakley, don't you think? Having Brown in there for the temporary term was a blessing in disguise.

[ron_newman]

This time around, she wasn't the party machine's first choice -- Steve Grossman was. The Democratic primary voters chose her anyway.

[ceo]

That's one of my main considerations: Coakley will have that job basically as long as she wants it. Baker will be much easier to get rid of.

That said, I haven't actually decided if Baker is sufficiently more odious to counterbalance that factor.

[weegoddess.livejournal.com]

He might not be, but his running mate sure is. I have no desire to have a right-wing Republican in the governor's seat, which could totally happen if Baker won and then left office for some reason.

[ceo]

Yes, I hadn't paid much attention to Polito when I wrote that. Particularly given the propensity of Republican governors in this state to leave office mid-term, she tips me firmly over the edge into voting for Coakley.

[ron_newman]

The US Attorney's office prosecuted Aaron Swartz in federal court. Did Martha Coakley, the state attorney general, have any involvement at all in this? If so, I haven't heard of it up to now.

I have other problems with her, such as the Fells Acres case and the Mooninites ... but I'm going to very reluctantly vote for her anyway. I wish Evan Falchuk's campaign had attracted some momentum.

[drwex]

No, you're right. I conflated her public support with actual participation. Will fix.

[ron_newman]

I didn't know she had even made statements about this case. (Will look it up now)

[chienne-folle.livejournal.com]

There are no perfect people and no perfect institutions. The best we can do is support the ones that aren't quite as bad and work to make them better. I'll be voting for Coakley very reluctantly ... but Brown Baker looks even worse.

[dr-memory.livejournal.com]

Counter-argument: Baker's career ends, worst case scenario, in the Senate. After the Romney debacle, I don't see the national GOP letting a MA republican anywhere near the presidential nomination again in our lifetimes. Coakley, in contrast, could ride two terms as MA governor into at least the US Attorney General slot if not the Vice Presidency in our lifetimes.

Which is not to say that I disagree with your logic or blame anyone for holding their nose and voting for her given the alternative, but I will also not be in the slightest bit unhappy if she chokes again.

[drwex]

I read you as saying that it's not a good idea to support Coakley as she may well go on. Bury her now and suffer under Baker as the price for that?

[dr-memory.livejournal.com]

Exactly so.

[drwex]

:(

Do not want. Maybe there's still a non-major-party candidate in the race I can feel good about voting for.

[macthud]

I cannot vote in this election in any way which is likely to lead to Baker taking office. Which pretty much means Coakley gets my vote this time.

She wasn't my choice in the primary, but even with all the troubling aspects of her past career, she's the only alternative with any likelihood of winning.

If she turns out to be as bad as Governor as many seem to fear, she won't be that hard to bounce, and there's no way she'll be as bad for the state as Baker. I have some hope she'll be better as Gov than as AG.

[dcltdw]

Something that occurred to me over the weekend: who nominates justices for state courts in MA? Is it the governor? If so, I think that means I vote for Coakley and hope the Legislature checks her tenure, because the long game of the judiciary is more important to me.

[weegoddess.livejournal.com]

I tabbed this back when you posted it because, having only recently returned to the Fold, I'm not really well-versed on candidates' pros and cons. I'd hoped that people would come forward and give opinions and why, which is exactly what happened.

Thank you for posting about this!

[drwex]

You're welcome.

I don't know if you've seen it yet, but MA has the nice habit of distributing a pre-election ?pamphlet? - it's like a flimsy newspaper-printed thing - that describes the different questions to be voted on with the pro/con from each side. It's easy to miss this thing as it looks like junk mail.

[weegoddess.livejournal.com]

I did see something in the mail like you described (and kept it) that focused on the different ballot questions, but nothing about the candidates. I'll keep an eye out.

[weegoddess.livejournal.com]

Had you seen these today?

http://totient.dreamwidth.org/156382.html
http://cos.livejournal.com/129995.html

Figured you'd be interested...