In a political shocker, a Republican wins the Massachusetts election
It’s becoming known as the “Massachusetts Miracle” by some.
In an amazing come-from-behind victory, State Senator Scott Brown defeated Attorney General Martha Coakley in the special election to fill the late Senator Ted Kennedy’s seat. Brown defeated Coakley in a 52 to 47 percent margin.
Back in December, most everybody, even FOX News, said whoever won the Democratic primary could essentially be considered the next Massachusetts Senator.
Early last week, I said Brown had absolutely no chance of winning. It was Ted Kennedy’s seat, after all.
Boy, was I wrong.
So how did Brown win, becoming the first Republican Senator from Massachusetts in 31 years?
It was a combination of a few things: An extremely energized electorate behind Brown, a terribly run campaign by Coakley and a large amount of independent voters worried about the direction of the country.
When Brown began to rise in the polls, conservatives did not just gravitate toward him — they actually got involved.
People from all over the country traveled to Massachusetts to help both sides, but conservatives in Massachusetts worked especially hard to ensure a Brown victory.
The Coakley campaign will go down in political history as one of the worst campaigns ever run.
A senior Democratic Party official labeled the campaign the “worst debacle in American political history.”
Gaffes such as labeling former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling as a “Yankees fan” and misspelling “Massachusetts” were just surface issues in a campaign that made a fool out of Coakley and failed to successfully energize the Democratic base.
Pre-election polls showed more than 20 percent of registered Democrats planned on voting for Brown, whereas less than 10 percent of registered Republicans were for Coakley.
But perhaps the biggest factor in the race was health care.
Massachusetts voters were unhappy with the current health care bills in Congress.
Brown used that issue to his advantage perfectly, and did more than that.
He appealed to those worried about the economy by emphasizing his fiscal conservatism, opposing higher taxes and committing to representing the voters of Massachusetts and not special interests.
It was this appeal straight to the voters — this promise to put their interests first that contrasted against Coakley’s overconfidence that because she was a Democrat, it was her Senate seat to lose — that pushed Brown over the edge into a victory on Tuesday.
With Brown’s victory, the biggest question is what will happen to health care reform?
The Democrats will have to carefully plan their next move.
If they can get the House Democrats to go along with it, simply passing the Senate bill is their best shot.
If they can’t do that, major health care reform probably won’t happen.
And what does the future hold for Scott Brown?
Sure, he won on Tuesday, but it still is Massachusetts, and Brown’s conservatism will probably be his downfall in the 2012 election.
Until then, Republicans and Brown should celebrate what truly was an amazing victory.
