Reply #28: Someone on DKos thought it was all about health care

[Noisy Democrat]

He said he couldn't believe it mattered so much if Coakley only did 19 campaign events to Brown's 66. He asked, who votes based on how many campaign events there were? I wrote:

Have you ever been to Massachusetts?

People in Massachusetts absolutely do vote based on whether the person cares enough to be visible, to stand in the cold shaking hands with voters, to show up. And they vote based on whether people they respect and have known for years are behind the candidate.

I'm originally from California, then lived in Michigan before moving to Boston. Massachusetts is different. It would never in a million years occur to me to bitch because I've never seen Barbara Boxer in a Dunkin' Donuts in Silicon Valley. It never occurred to me to ask "How come I've never personally met Debbie Stabenow?" But Massachusetts is much smaller, and the people care much more passionately about the personal touch, and they get really, seriously cranky when they feel that politicians aren't personally accessible. John Kerry knocked himself out to meet and talk with people in the small towns of Massachusetts when he was up for reelection in 2008. He had to. That's how Massachusetts is.

If Coakley didn't bother to get out and shake hands, and the Powers That Be in the Boston area didn't pull out all the stops for her -- there goes the election. Not saying health care wasn't a factor too, but you really can't dismiss these other factors.

I think some people outside of MA have no idea.

BTW, then some guy posted that this was BS because he lived in Springfield for 3 years and JK only visited twice. I wrote --

I know that Kerry campaigned all over the state

because I was video-blogging a lot of it. I went to events everywhere, including Western MA, including Springfield. But the fact that you feel he hasn't been out there often enough just proves my point that MA voters notice and care about these things. If you ask a California voter whether Barbara Boxer or DiFi visits his part of the state much, he'll probably just say, "Huh? Never thought about it."

Anyone from CA or MI who cares to disagree with me, feel free. But this is my perception, after having lived 29 years in CA and 15 in MI, and not nearly as long as I still want/intend to in MA.