Obama's Image Maker Was Coakley's Ad Maker

One name has been conspicuously absent from the pre-finale post-mortems among Democrats about the Massachusetts Senate race: Jim Margolis. Margolis's firm, GMMB, was responsible for Martha Coakley's television advertisements. They were roundly criticized -- in part because there weren't many after the primary. But Margolis was the man responsible for some of the more memorable Obama campaign advertisements and videos. What happened? A source with knowledge of Margolis's role in the race says that only when it became clear that Coakley was in trouble did Margolis take personal charge of the Coakley account. I'm told that Margolis did not pitch the account and played no role at all in the campaign -- until the White House asked him to help at the end -- which he did, to their satisfaction.  He had assumed -- like everyone else did, including the White House -- that the race did not need too much attention.