Martha Coakley says flak over late concession 'misplaced'

BOSTON (MyFoxBoston.com) -- Attorney General Martha Coakley is back at work and now we're hearing from her for the first time since she conceded the race for governor.

In a one-on-one interview with FOX 25, Coakley talks about her controversial decision to wait to concede the race, what a popular former President Obama adviser said about her, and why she lost for a second time.

"There are no silver medals in politics. Right? When you come in second, you've lost," Coakley says.

The attorney general says she fought hard in the race for governor and that anyone who says different wasn't paying attention.                    
 
When asked if she thought it was fair that former Obama adviser David Axelrod called her a "demonstrably bad candidate," Coakley said "it's totally unfair. And let me tell you, for someone who wasn't here for this race, who maybe from 2010 is extrapolating, it's inaccurate, it's unfair."

She went on to say "remember the issue was, you've gotta shake hands, I felt like I grew a lot as a candidate this time. We did a great job with a great team. So David Axelrod is wrong."

Coakley was asked about her controversial election night decision to send her supporters home and wait until the next day to concede.

When asked about the flak she received for not conceding the race immediately, she said, "actually not from my supporters.  I got flak from a few people, and I think it was misplaced."

Does she have any regrets about that night?

"No, I would do it again," she said. "I think it was the right decision."

When asked about all the networks calling the race, and why she didn't come out to address supporters, Coakley said "they had called it prematurely we believed. We still had votes out around the state from places where we knew that it would be very close as it was; closest race in 50 years."

Coakley says she's getting job offers, but won't say exactly for what.

She likes to joke she'll drive a duck boat.

"For me, it's always been important to work on issues that I care about in ways where I feel like I could make a difference. And so there are a lot of those, it could be all of the above, duck boat, teacher, law firm member, who knows but I certainly am gonna keep an open mind."

Coakley also repeated what she said the day after the election, that yes, more women should get into politics. And she says she still has work to do while she is working on the transition to Attorney General-elect Maura Healey.

She still hasn't taken time off and is wearing a walking boot after tripping at home. She says she'll take time off after the boot comes off.

Cox Media Group