Charismatic Republican Scott Brown beat lackluster Democrat Martha Coakley the old fashioned way — with hard work. It was a virtual landslide. Coakley believed she could coast to sure victory in the ultra-liberal Commonwealth of Massachusetts, without ads, without handshakes, without real campaigning. Somehow she thought all she had to do was “say” she wanted the job and it would be a coronation. Boy, was she wrong!
The Coakley campaign as well as the local Democratic Party totally misread the election and their voters. In short, they were all asleep at the switch. Meanwhile, Scott Brown was in tune and in touch with the voters, pulling out a last minute knock out punch that has created a ripple effect throughout the country. Scott Brown’s win now leaves Democrats in the Senate with only a 59 member majority — ONE VOTE shy of being able to prevent a Republican filibuster. What does that mean? Democrats have lost the opportunity to pass President Obama’s signature policy of health care reform, since Republicans now have the numbers to stop it. That doesn’t just effect the people of Massachusetts, but it effects everyone.
Today, Republicans are about as giddy as a Girl Scout on cookie day. They’ve wasted no time pointing out how Democrats lost the Governorship in Virginia and New Jersey, and now the long-standing liberal seat of Ted Kennedy in Massachusetts. Meanwhile, Democrats are punch-drunk, pointing fingers and wondering what went wrong. How will they recover from that?
DJ:"The Coakley campaign as well as the local Democratic Party totally misread the election and their voters."I have to Respectfully disagree with you DJThey didn't "misread" anything. They didn't give it (the election OR the voters) a 2nd thought. As I shard on the other post yesterday….They got their hat handed to them because they tried to play the SAME cynical, arrogant and STUPID game that the McCain folks did in their choice of Palin. The Dems put up a poor candidate, assuming it would be a "slam dunk" automatic "WIN" for Ted's senate seat. And if it weren't for the fact that affordable healthcare is at stake for millions of uninsured_and underinsured_Americans, I really would NOT give a d*mn. Both parties are destroying this country!