What Happened in the 2010/2013 Massachusetts Special Elections?

[Free Bird]

Both Mike Capuano and Stephen Lynch were soundly defeated by Coakley and Markey respectively when they ran for the Senate. Why is this? Did they campaign badly? It isn't that they lost, but that it wasn't even within 5 points either time. Both have many resources as Congressmen, so I'm just surprised.

[JMT]

If I remember correctly...

In 2010, Martha Coakley was seen as a rising star in the party. She was relatively young and had experience being elected statewide as Attorney General.  Little did Democrats know at the time that she would go on to lose the election to Scott Brown, and lose the Governors race 4 years later...

In 2013, Ed Markey was recruited and endorsed by the DSCC and much of the establishment got behind his candidacy. He raised a significant sum of money at the beginning, and Democrats were trying to clear the field for him. In addition to being backed by the establishment, he had a very long career in the house and was known as a leader on environmental issues, an important issue to many of the party's grassroots organizers. Overall, he was seen as the more progressive candidate when compared to Lynch, which helps in a low turnout primary campaign. Lynch entered the race late after many Democrats had already decided on Markey. Lynch was portrayed as a moderate, and while he had strong ties to labor unions, these unions were not at all opposed to Markey being senator. Lynch was unable to overcome Markey's strengths as a candidate, as Markey was a more natural fit for a liberal state.