Courtesy Boston Globe, Copyright 2010
Bucking the statewide surge that elected a Republican, Scott Brown, to the U.S. senate for the first time in 32 years, Harvard voters backed Democratic candidate Martha Coakley at the polls Tuesday, marking the town as an island of blue in a surrounding sea of red on vote tally maps published in the New York Times and Boston Globe.
With only a few absentee ballots remaining to be counted, Town Clerk Janet Vellante reported Tuesday evening that Coakley had received 54% of the Harvard vote, with 45% going to self-described “independent Republican” Scott Brown and one percent to Libertarian candidate Joseph Kennedy. Coakley’s margin in Harvard represented a difference of only 250 votes out of a total of 2896 votes cast
The 71 percent turnout (2896) of Harvard registered voters (3878) was among the highest in the state and nearly twice the number who voted in the December state primary. As reported elsewhere, Brown drew much of his support from central Massachusetts towns to the west of Harvard, as well as from precincts on the north and south shores of the state. Harvard was among a small number of affluent communities between Rts. 128 and I495 who supported Coakley, though the vote for the Democrat was 10 percent lower than the vote Harvard cast for Obama in 2008. The adjacent towns of Bolton, Littleton, Ayer, Shirley and Lancaster all voted for Brown, with only Boxboro joining the cluster of metro west Coakley supporters.
Health care, the national deficit, and the Democratic-dominated Massachusetts state delegation were all on the minds of voters leaving the Harvard polls who stopped to talk with Press reporters. With nearly 60 percent of Harvard voters registered as independents (2306) and with registered Democrats outnumbering Republicans two-to one in town (979 to 580), it was clear that Brown’s opposition to the health care plans before Congress, his message of fiscal restraint, and his campaign “against the machine” drew many independents in town to his side and away from Coakley.
“I normally vote for the independent candidate,” said Terry Fitek, who said he was excited that for once someone of that persuasion had a chance to win. “Too much of one thing is a bad thing, and I think 12 Democrats [in the state’s delegation to the US Congress] is a bad thing,” said Michael Thornton, another independent.
The non-stop phone calls that kept Harvard phones ringing throughout the weekend and into Election Day annoyed everyone, regardless of political persuasion. “Bill Clinton at dinner time doesn’t do it for me,” said Pat Jennings. “I came out to vote because I was so sick of calls from the Brown camp,” said another. Others reported receiving calls from as far away as Texas and Pennsylvania. Jennings, along with other members of the municipal building planning committee, had planned a phone campaign for the weekend to encourage attendance at the upcoming Old Library design “charrette” on Jan. 30, but gave up, she said, when it became apparent she would just be adding to the din.
A light snow fell steadily throughout in the morning on Tuesday, as cars nosed in and out of the few spaces reserved for voters at the Bromfield School. Town residents on their way to work and ferrying their children to school filed steadily in and out of the Bromfield gym, sometimes mixing with students during class changes. Later in the evening there was a second surge of residents stopping by on their way home from work.
Outside more than a dozen Scott Brown supporters held signs and waved at passersby, as they had on Saturday at the dump. “I haven’t seen any Coakley signs in town, but I’ve seen Brown signs everywhere,” said Phillip Knoetter. Where are the Coakley signs?, someone asked town Democratic committee chairman Dennis Bradley, Tuesday morning as Brown supporters gathered in front of Bromfield to support their candidate.“They’re coming, they’re coming,” he said. And eventually they did.
