The question is whether the anger against Tim Kaine is isolated to Daily Kos or whether it's a broader feeling among the progressive activist base of the party. I guess we'll see in coming days and weeks... The other question is whether or not it's fair to blame Tim Kaine for what happened last night. This morning, I listed my Top 10 Reasons Why We Lost Last Night, and the DNC wasn't one of the reasons. Thoughts?
UPDATE: Here's Tim Kaine's explanation.
UPDATE #2: I received an email from a Democrat who worked the Massachusetts election. Here's part of it.
They sent TONS of people and helped organize a massive DSCC/DCCC involvement as well. They also helped organize the GOTV and legal efforts that, although they of course were not successful as the campaign lost, were much better for national involvment. A few weeks ago when the national folks showed up the Coakley people were just coasting, completely confident in their victory. Believe me, I've been part of an operation where the DC bigwigs fucked it up...but this wasn't one of those times. This would have been worse, but for the triage operation engaged in by all of the national committees. It wasn't just the campaign either. Mass Dems in general from the party chair to local volunteers just didn't believe they could be beaten in a federal race.
Though I might not completely agree with all of them I think your 10 reasons were largely on point. Coakley was a terrible candidate. Brown is impressive (when he's not trying to marry off his daughters). And though we all know he was pandering to the teabaggers, that's not how he came off there. Other than the pander on being the 41st vote on health care he ran (perhaps deceptively) as a centrist. His ads made him out to be a moderate and that was definitely the perception among the folks I ran into.
I think the populist thing really nails it. Coakley seemed like a patrician, totally out of touch with reality and Brown, though he didn't really offer any solution, was in touch with the zeitgeist of the moment.
