Saturday, January 16, 2010

Coakley's gaffes have hobbled her campaign

By: Susan Ferrechio

Chief Congressional Correspondent
January 17, 2010

Martha Coakley's campaign has been plagued by gaffes for weeks, but as the election approaches, her misfires seem to be coming faster.

After misspelling Massachusetts last week in a attack ad aimed at her Republican opponent, Martha Coakley's team had to quickly pull another television spot Friday when people began noticing the picture used in the backdrop depicted the World Trade Center before it was destroyed in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

The ad was meant to depict Scott Brown, who is leading Coakley in some polls, as a Wall Street crony.

"Republican Scott Brown opposes a plan to reform Wall Street," a voice says, as the words fill the screen. The next image shows Brown's face beside two high-rise buildings, including one of the two Trade Center towers leveled in the attack

Republicans quickly pounced on the error, with former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Sept. 11 hero saying Coakley owed the families of the 9/11 victims an apology.

In addition to the ads, Coakley has said and done a few things that have left people shaking their heads.

During a debate with Brown last week, Coakley declared Afghanistan free of terrorists despite a spate of recent bombings that have killed many Americans. Coakley also earned the wrath of Boston sports fans and reinforced her reputation for aloofness by mocking the idea of standing outside Fenway park in the cold to shake hands with voters, as Brown had done.

Days later, she abandoned the Bay State campaign trail completely and headed to Washington to attend a fundraiser with health-industry lobbyists at a posh D.C. wine war. Her grinning image was caught on camera as she entered the fundraiser and used by the opposition to depict her as a Washington Insider who is cozy with special interest groups. As she left the fundraiser, one of her aides knocked down a reporter who was trying to ask Coakley a question.

Brown has not had been unscathed either. with nearly nude photos of him from a 1980s Cosmopolitan spread making the internet rounds.

But he has been outdone in the gaffe department by Coakley, who on Friday committed perhaps the biggest blunder of all in this Red Sox-crazed state: mistakenly declaring legendary former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling a Yankee fan. Schilling earned his place in Boston baseball lore when he beat the Yankees in game 6 of the 2004 American League Championship series, despite bleeding from a recent ankle surgery.

sferrechio@washingtonexaminer.com

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