Initially, Coakley was heavily favored to prevail in the general election. Brown considered himself a
fiscal conservative and
Washington, D.C. outsider. Assistant Professor Boris Schor of the
University of Chicago's
Harris School of Public Policy Studies described Brown as a
liberal Republican by national standards, but well suited for his Massachusetts constituency. Brown drew attention for having appeared nude and semi-nude with his hands covering his genitals in a
centerfold in
Cosmopolitan in 1982. During a State Senate debate in 2001, Brown had referred to the decision of his
lesbian Democratic opponent,
Cheryl Jacques, to have children as "not normal". He also described her parenting role as "alleged family responsibilities." Several Massachusetts LGBT activists condemned the statement. Brown apologized for his "poor choice of words", and he defended his position on that issue as being
anti-gay-marriage and
pro-civil-unions. Brown filed an ethics complaint stating that the
Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 509 used state computers and e-mail addresses to direct employees of the state to volunteer for Coakley's campaign. Controversy erupted over a
conscientious objector amendment Brown sponsored in 2005, which, according to
The Boston Globe, "would have allowed a doctor, nurse or hospital to deny rape victims an
emergency contraceptive if it 'conflicts with a sincerely held religious belief.'" In the candidates' January 5 debate, Brown stated that he continues to support religious hospitals in refusing to provide emergency contraception, causing the woman to go to another hospital. He said, "That's really up to the hospital. There are many, many hospitals that can deal with that situation." Coakley ran a television advertisement attacking Brown over that saying, "Brown even favors letting hospitals deny emergency contraception to rape victims." Brown's daughter Ayla called the Coakley advertisement "completely inaccurate and misleading", and Brown criticized Coakley for running what he described as "attack ads". Coakley took several actions during the campaign that were widely believed to have cost her significant support. For example, less than a month before the election, she took six days off from campaigning; Brown called this break a "vacation". The
Boston Herald commented, "Laying low in the final weeks of a truncated election is unusual – and a luxury that only a very confident candidate could afford." Also, when criticized for leaving the state for a Washington fundraiser instead of campaigning, Coakley responded by asking, "'As opposed to standing outside
Fenway Park? In the cold? Shaking hands?'" Two of Coakley's advertisements had to be re-edited after they first aired. One advertisement misspelled the word "Massachusetts' (spelling it ''''), while another used old
stock footage of
New York's World Trade Center--which was destroyed in the
September 11 terrorist attacks--to represent
Wall Street. The second ad was meant to depict Brown as a Wall Street crony. In a radio interview on January 16, 2010, Coakley described former
Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling as a "
Yankee fan," which drew criticism. Schilling, who considered running for the Senate seat himself and later endorsed Scott Brown, responded by saying "I've been called a lot of things ... but never, I mean never, could anyone make the mistake of calling me a Yankee fan. Well, check that, if you didn't know what the hell is going on in your own state maybe you could ..." Coakley later described the comment as a joke. Coakley's role in the case of Keith Winfield attracted criticism. In October 2005, Winfield, then working as a police officer, was accused of raping his 23-month-old niece with a hot object (most likely a curling iron). A
Middlesex County grand jury overseen by Coakley investigated the case and did not take any action. After the toddler's mother filed applications for criminal complaints, Coakley obtained grand jury indictments charging Winfield with rape, assault, and battery. About ten months after the indictment, she recommended that Winfield be released without bail. Winfield remained free until December 2007. Coakley defended her decisions, saying that Winfield had a clean record and that there were few other signs of danger. Brown accused Coakley of behaving like she was entitled to the Senate seat merely by dint of being the candidate of the Democratic Party; famously, he said during one of the candidates debates that the U.S. Senate seat was "not Kennedy's seat, and it's not the Democrats' seat; it's the people's seat".
CQ Politics and Cook Political Report rated the election as a "Tossup". The Rothenberg Political Report changed its rating from "Tossup" to "Lean Takeover" on January 18. Charlie Cook of the Cook Political Report stated on January 17, said that he would put his "finger on the scale" for Scott Brown as favored to win. The Rothenberg Political Report released a statement that, "unless Democratic turnout exceeds everyone's expectations, Brown is headed for a comfortable win." As of January 18, Brown led Coakley in the
Intrade prediction market by high double-digit margins. Statistician
Nate Silver of
FiveThirtyEight.com projected on January 18 that there was a 75% chance that Brown would defeat Coakley.
Finances , Martha Coakley raised over
US$5.2million in total, and had $937,383 cash on hand. Scott Brown had $367,150 cash on hand. Brown spent $450,000 on
television advertisements, while Coakley spent $1.4million. A week before the general election, Brown raised
$1.3 million from over 16,000 donors in a 24-hour fund-raising effort. Reports also indicated that Brown raised an average of $1 million per day the week prior to the election. This outpouring of support from the Internet and other givers offset what had been relatively less support from national Republican committees, who had decided not to target the race publicly. In the final fundraising push one of Brown's contributions for $5,000 came from
David Koch, a wealthy activist and supporter of
conservative causes and campaigns. Koch had also given the
National Republican Senatorial Committee $30,400 in November 2009 and the
Koch Industries PAC gave $15,000 to NRSC right before the January 2010 special election. Coakley admitted to making an "honest mistake" while filing the financial disclosure forms for her Senate run claiming to have no personal assets when in fact she had an account under her husband's name with over $200,000 and a personal
Individual Retirement Account containing approximately $12,000. Approximately
US$23 million was spent on the election.
Debates All three candidates participated in the debates. The first was held on the
Jim & Margery show in
Boston on January 5, and broadcast by
WTKK. The January 8 debate was held in
Springfield, Massachusetts and originating at
WGBY-TV's studios, aired by them and its sister
WGBH-
TV-
FM stations in Boston. The final debate was held on January 11 at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute at the
University of Massachusetts Boston and carried live on TV and radio on multiple stations throughout the state, and both television debates aired nationwide live on
C-SPAN.
Endorsements Media In regards to the coverage of the election,
MSNBC was criticized by one reporter for perceived bias against Brown, while
Fox News was accused of favoring Brown. One journalist reported that
CNN and Fox News may have delivered more balanced coverage on the election day itself, providing both Republican and Democratic commentators. On Fox's
Hannity on January 11,
political commentator Dick Morris solicited donations for a last-minute Brown advertising buy before the election, and said "please, please help (elect Brown)". Brown himself made multiple appearances on various Fox programs within a 24-hour-period, where he made fundraising solicitations during the course of the interviews.
Predictions Polling Results Polls closed at 8:00pm
Eastern Time. At 9:06pm
BNO News projected Brown as the winner of the race. At 9:13 p.m.,
The Boston Globe reported that Coakley had telephoned Brown and conceded the election. Brown won in 229 of those 351 municipalities, while Coakley won in 121. Coakley and Brown tied in the small town of
Hawley, each receiving 63 votes. In general, Brown drew support from
suburban towns in the central and southeastern portions of the state, while Coakley generally fared well in the cities, in rural towns in western Massachusetts, and on the offshore islands. More specifically, support for Brown tended to be high in
Hampden County, the
495 Corridor, the
South Shore suburbs and the southwestern part of
Cape Cod, particularly the Upper Cape. Brown also won or ran close to even in a number of historically Democratic working-class cities such as
Worcester,
Lowell and
Quincy. Coakley generally fared well in the Berkshires and the cities, and had particularly strong support in
college towns such as
Amherst,
Northampton and
Cambridge. == Analysis ==