Do you really think that a senior in high school or a twenty-something on a third-rate cable TV talk show really anticipated being a US Senate candidate many years later or are you just being obtuse?
You know better. Why waste your time asking?
Probably not, any more that Coons thought he'd be running for Senate when he shot his mouth off about marxism. But she did appear on the show making those comments, and people like Maher are using them. Her financial blunders are a matter of record, and her opponents are using them. Coons and his campaign will take advantage of anything they can, just as O'Donnell's campaign would if the situation was reversed.