A Martha Coakley loss in today’s Massachusetts election will likely be interpreted as a repudiation of the current Democratic agenda and that of President Obama, in particular, and pundits will inevitably call for more bipartisanship on healthcare and other issues. It is interesting to note, then, that the Coakley campaign had strong Republican ties at its highest levels.
Coakley campaign co-chair Ralph C Martin II was a prominent Massachusetts Republican until recently. He served as the Republican District Attorney of Suffolk County throughout the nineties, and also chaired former Governor Mitt Romney’s Judicial Nominating Commission. He has been floated as a Republican candidate for Senator and Mayor in recent years, though he switched his voter registration from Republican to unenrolled in 2006. It’s unclear if he has since joined the Democratic Party.
