Last week’s New York Times story painted a scathing picture of Richard Blumenthal’s senate campaign. The attorney general’s rambling answer to the most basic of questions — why do you want to be a Senator? — brought to mind the famous 1979 Roger Mudd interview with Ted Kennedy, when Kennedy was completely unable to articulate why he wanted to be president.
The Times says that some Democrats are nervous; they’ve taken to calling Blumenthal “Martha Coakley in pants.”
But Blumenthal’s “halting style,” as described by the Times, hardly seems to have Connecticut Democrats in a panic.
I spoke last week with several Democrats — elected officials, liberal activists, political consultants and rabble-rousers — and not a single one said they were nervous. These are some of the same folks who publicly fretted over Chris Dodd’s reelection chances for most of last year.
But unlike Dodd, Blumenthal’s public approval ratings are in the stratosphere.
“He is polling at more than 80% but there are some Republicans in the state so he isn’t at 100%,” writes Pat Scully on his blog, The Hanging Shad.
“He hasn’t had a tough race since he became attorney general so there’s been no need for cutthroat campaigning. And the Democrat challenging him for the nomination for US Senate didn’t going running off the debate stage because he was sooo intimidated. Therefore it was only a matter of time before there was an article in the mainstream press claiming Dick Blumenthal is off to a bumpy start.”
Another Democratic activists points out the differences between Coakley, the Mass. AG who lost a special election in January to fill Ted Kennedy’s seat to Republican Scott Brown.
Coakley had held statewide office for just three years before losing to Brown; Blumenthal has been AG for two decades. And Coakley was running in a special election in the dead of winter.
“The notion that Blumenthal is ‘in trouble’ is laughable, particularly if Linda McMahon is his opponent,” the activist said.
Coakley was a lax campaigner, and that was seen as a big factor in her downfall. Whatever you want to say about Blumenthal, avoiding public appearances isn’t his style.
As for Blumenthal’s cautious style, well, the guy’s a lawyer after all. He’s going to be deliberative.
Yet his campaign says it takes nothing for granted, not even those astronomical Q poll ratings.