Hoping Along with Mass. Democrats
The last part of Michael Cooper's "Caucus" post Monday evening before the special Senate election, "Mass. Senate Rivals Cross Paths in Last Push," forwarded wishful Democratic complaints about "angry outbursts" at rallies for Republican candidate Scott Brown possibly causing a "backlash." Cooper linked those "outburts" to the exaggerated 2008 campaign accounts of McCain-Palin campaign rallies as anti-Obama angerfests. But Democrats might not want to push too hard to exploit this particular issue:
Democrats pointed to angry outbursts at recent Scott Brown rallies, including a video that showed a man in the crowd shouting out a vulgarity involving Ms. Coakley and a curling iron and Mr. Brown appearing to smirk. Some hoped that the video would arouse anger among rank-and-file Democrats and cause a backlash, the way that angry outbursts at McCain-Palin rallies last year backfired and wound up hurting the ticket.
Cooper apparently doesn't know the context of the distasteful "curling iron" remark, and why it would be shouted about Coakley. From the January 6 edition of the Times' sister paper, the Boston Globe:
In October 2005, a Somerville police officer living in Melrose raped his 23-month-old niece with a hot object, most likely a curling iron.
Keith Winfield, then 31, told police he was alone with the toddler that day and made additional statements that would ultimately be used to convict him.
But in the aftermath of the crime, a Middlesex County grand jury overseen by Martha Coakley, then the district attorney, investigated without taking action.
It was only after the toddler's mother filed applications for criminal complaints that Coakley won grand jury indictments charging rape and assault and battery.
Even then, nearly 10 months after the crime, Coakley's office recommended that Winfield be released on personal recognizance, with no cash bail. He remained free until December 2007, when Coakley's successor as district attorney won a conviction and two life terms.
