Do A Google Search On "Coakley, Brown, Issues, Comparison" - What do you find?

[TomCADem]

Nothing. This is a major election. Typically, during a high profile election, we are bombarded with charts and stories that compare and contrast the candidates on the issues. However, where are the stories by mainstream news publications on Brown and Coakley?

The best I can find is the endorsements of Coakley by some local newspapers like the Boston Globe, but otherwise most of the stories tend to focus on hype and the celebrities and big names who are behind each candidate. Where do the candidates stand?

This is the best I've found, but if anyone can find a similar comparison by a mainstream news outlet, please post:

http://www.thesunchronicle.com/articles/2010/01/17/opinion/6761250.txt

Our choice of Coakley may be surprising to some. Her major opponent is state Sen. Scott Brown, R-Wrentham, a local figure we have endorsed in the past for state Senate, and he is supported by a minority on our editorial board.

There's much to be said for endorsing a local candidate. However, we have an insurmountable problem. To paraphrase words Brown applied to his Democratic opponent, "he's a nice man, but he's wrong on all the issues."

Brown initially took a militant stand against gay marriage, which we have consistently supported. While he has softened his position some, his outlook on equal rights in a private matter remains worrisome.

After voicing support in this space for health care reform, we can't very well back Brown when he is promising to submarine national health care on his own as "the 41st Republican senator." We are left instead to wonder how he sees himself as a fitting successor to Sen. Edward Kennedy, who made health care reform a signature issue, while planning to spoil the best chance for reform the nation has ever had. Senate candidate Martha Coakley waits for the start of a taped debate at the WBZ-TV studios in Boston. Coakley is running to fill the seat vacated by the late Sen. Edward Kennedy, but is crafting a campaign largely free of the Kennedy mystique. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File) After making our view plain that the United States does better not to lower itself to the level of nations who use torture in pursuit of information, we cannot endorse Brown when he issues statements that water boarding is not torture and should be employed by our nation.

We have no doubts about Brown's patriotism and commend him for his three decades of service in the National Guard and rank as a lieutenant colonel in the Judge Advocate General Corps. This, however, hardly translates into foreign policy expertise. The thin skin he has shown at times, notably at a King Philip Regional High School assembly, would be a handicap in the Senate chambers. He may have a desirably harder line than Coakley on fiscal issues, but his extreme positions on choice, gender, and other social questions are out of step for our pluralistic society.

Coakley is pro-health care reform, with qualifications regarding abortion amendments. Her jobs and economy platform is well-thought-out and detailed, while Brown hangs his hat on a return to free enterprise. She is firmly committed to same-sex marriage rights.

Coakley has established herself as a leader. Her work on the foreclosure crisis in Massachusetts is evidence that she is ready to serve the people's interests while dealing with the big players in Washington.

She deserves your vote on Tuesday.

The third candidate in the special election, Joseph L. Kennedy, is running on the Libertarian ticket. He is even more ardently opposed to health care reform than Brown. Kennedy is not ready for prime time and his Libertarian no-government-interference stance on the economy is a non-starter in Washington. He is given virtually zero chance of winning, but we are happy to see him in the face. Third parties' heads need to stay above water in Massachusetts in order to offer an alternative to Democrat and Republican platforms too often crafted to please their more extreme wings.

[Clio the Leo]

1. Because Brown hasn't taken a stand on any of the issues...

... I know he drives a truck .... but is he going to be fighting for the people who BUILD that truck or the bankers who finance it?

I understand he likes baseball as well.

[Rhiannon12866]

2. +1

Hey, that's the American pastime! :eyes:

[rgbecker]

3. Loves to get naked and waterboard.

[KingFlorez]

4. I think a lot of the reasons the issues weren't front and center is becauses Dems were complacent

We are talking about Massachusetts and Edward Kennedy's seat, most Democrats, Coakley included, saw this as a cakewalk and completely sat back expecting to bring it home easy. While that was happening, the Republicans were able to set the tone of the race and boost their candidate.

[highplainsdem]

5. I've been googling slightly different keywords

Trying this set

coakley brown "where they stand"

since that's probably the most common phrase used for these comparisons.

But I didn't have much more luck. What initially looked like promising newspaper articles turned out to be just a couple of not-very-detailed comparisons from the primaries, listing all the Dem and Republican candidates instead of just Coakley and Brown, and barely touching on the issues.

That keyword search also turned up your reply, Tom, in another DU thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.org/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7492116#7492416

It is disappointing that the media approach to this race has been so superficial.

[TomCADem]

6. Yeah, It Is Sad That The Only Comparison Out There Is Linked To A Thread I Started...

This is a major election for goodness sakes, and the people have a right to know where the candidates stand on the issues. Now, I disagree with you slightly in that if you check out the candidates websites they tout the real and imagined differences between the candidates. What you don't see is the mainstream media providing a third party overview of the candidate's positions and fact check of those positions. It is remarkable that on the eve of the election, there is almost a media blackout on such a comparison that is normally quite common place.

[hh2010]

8. politicians' stance on important issues

There is a web site that attempts to make it easier to check on the position on important issues of the incumbent members of the U.S. Congress:
http://www.vis.org

I only wish they also did it for candidates for congressional offices like Coakley and Brown.

[merh]

7. Is he one of those sleazy lawyers?

What type of law did he practice? Remember how the right castigated Edwards (before his fall from grace) for being an ambulance chasing lawyer?