Reply #62: What was the motivation?

[Juche]

What was the dem motivation? The GOP, even if they won, still would not control the senate. So they would not be able to pass destructive legislation.

Even if the dems won all it means is that a fractured coalition hijacked by the most conservative members in the senate still got to call all the shots because the GOP was wantonly abusing the rules of the filibuster. So you'd still have a situation where Lincoln and Lieberman had all the power. And for many people, voting for upholding a weak coalition that depends on Lieberman's bitterness against progressives (which is why he took the medicare buy in out) wasn't worth fighting too hard for.

There wasn't any motivation on the dem side. The best the dems could hope for was more disappointment in the senate. So people stayed home.

If someone like Alan Grayson, Sherrod Brown, Sanders, etc were running in MA, you would've seen turnout. But in that case, you'd be voting for the candidate and not for the party. With Coakley, there was no motivation to vote for the candidate or motivation to vote for the party. That is the way I saw it.