Sources: Obama advisers believe Coakley will lose
Posted: January 17th, 2010 04:22 PM ET
From CNN Senior White House Correspondent Ed Henry
Washington (CNN) - Multiple advisers to President Obama have privately told party officials that they believe Democrat Martha Coakley is going to lose Tuesday’s special election to fill the Massachusetts Senate seat held by the late Ted Kennedy for more than 40 years, several Democratic sources told CNN Sunday.
The sources added that the advisers are still hopeful that Obama's visit to Massachusetts on Sunday - coupled with a late push by Democratic activists - could help Coakley pull out a narrow victory in an increasingly tight race against Republican state Sen. Scott Brown.
However, the presidential advisers have grown increasingly pessimistic in the last three days about Coakley's chances after a series of missteps by the candidate, sources said.
At 4:59pm I submitted the following comment to the site:
Why were these "sources" granted anonymity?
I'm a reporter, now an editor. And this kind of anonymous sourcing is a discredit to my profession.
Frankly, this kind of inside baseball nonsense makes me suspect that you're simply making the whole thing up.
You should be ashamed.
Soon after, the original Henry post was amended, with a real name added, as follows:
But White House spokesman Bill Burton told CNN: "The President is in Massachusetts today because he believes Martha Coakley is the right person for the job and indeed will be the next senator from Massachusetts."
Of course the named person contradicts the unnamed sources, so what are we to think of this?
Regardless, my comment didn't make it through the moderating process.
