FINGER-POINTING

Coakley Campaign Blames D.C. Dems

Denies she’s a bad candidate; blames DNC “apathy.”

Before polls closed in the Massachusetts special election Tuesday, the campaign of faltering Democratic candidate Martha Coakley leaked a memo blaming national Democrats for her difficulties. A Coakley adviser told Politico that despite top Democrats anonymously commenting that she was a “bad candidate” running a sluggish campaign, the White House and the DNC are also at fault. The adviser’s memo says that Coakley conveyed concerns about slipping poll numbers back in December. She was hurt by a health-care compromise benefitting Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) and by the president’s slow response to the Christmas underwear bomber—but these concerns were ignored by her party, the memo says. Coakley didn’t release TV ads until 12 days before the election, because of “a fundraising problem that national Democrats failed to resolve,” it continued. A White House official fired back that it’s “mind-boggling” to see consultants spin an election before it’s even over: "There's only one reason to do that."