Paul McMorrow – Snappy Title TK TK

Two quick leftovers that didn’t make it into today’s opus (cheers to you, word-count-less internet) on the Martha Coakley/Scott Brown wrestling match.

First, there’s been much made of the cursed offices from which Coakley is attempting to leap. And the current AG certainly seems to have taken some campaigning tips (act indifferent, bash Bush, dismiss your opposition) from her predecessor, Tom Reilly. I asked Charlie Manning about the comparison between the two. His answer: At least Martha won a primary. Ouch.

And then there’s prediction time. I heard a lot for Coakley by ten, and the lowest a Dem would go was a five-to-eight-point win. The point Warren Tolman makes in the piece, about Brown peaking a week early, may well turn out to be true. But so is this point a less-than-ecstatic Dem made: This race never should have been this close, and because it was, it will wind up causing collateral damage down the line. The DNSC and DNC don’t need to be wasting time and money defending Massachusetts. They’ve got their hands full in Montana, and Nevada, and pretty much everywhere else that isn’t Massachusetts. The thought here was that, even if the GOP can’t steal Ted’s seat, they’ve at least softened up the Dems elsewhere. Something to watch.