Turnout High in Mass. as Dems Point Fingers

Axelrod says White House would have done more earlier if asked
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 19, 2010 4:02 PM CST
Turnout High in Mass. as Dems Point Fingers
Massachusetts State Senator Scott Brown votes Tuesday.   (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Voter turnout is heavy in Massachusetts, but without exit polls it won't be clear until after the polls close at 8pm whether Scott Brown or Martha Coakley will be a senator. Based on comments and emails floating about, Democrats are terrified:

  • A Coakley adviser fired off an angry email, obtained by Ben Smith at Politico, refuting the notion that she's at fault. The "DNC and other Dem organizations did not engage until the week before the election, much too late," it reads, adding that Brown capitalized on the trouble of President Obama and the national party.

  • Obama adviser David Axelrod said his "hat's off" to Brown for a "very clever" campaign. He said the White House would have done more to help Coakley had it been asked earlier, notes the Chicago Tribune.
  • Nancy Pelosi insisted at an afternoon news conference that health care reform would pass, no matter what happens in Massachusetts, reports AP.
(More Massachusetts stories.)

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