Mr. Brown goes to Washington

Brown heads to Washington after upset Senate win

Excerpts:

The timing of his swearing-in remained in question. While Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin sent a letter to the Senate clerk Wednesday declaring Brown the unofficial winner of the seat, senators had to decide whether they were going to waive a waiting period for absentee ballot arrivals.

Brown was meeting first with his highest-profile backer, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee. Next up was his new state partner, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., and then Sen. Paul G. Kirk Jr., who has been holding Kennedy's seat on an interim basis since shortly after Kennedy's death from brain cancer in August.

....

"If you were to tell me growing up that a guy whose mom was on welfare and parents had some marital troubles, and I had some issues growing up, that a guy from Wrentham would be here standing before you right now and going to Washington, D.C., are you kidding me?" Brown said at a postelection news conference.

After his day trip to Washington, Brown was returning to Massachusetts to contemplate when to resign his state Senate seat and how to cope with the new demands of being a capital commuter.

Comment: Washington still experiencing "after-quakes" from the upset!

If Democrats can lose in Massachusetts, they can lose anywhere

“The Party’s Over”

Excerpt:

Any Democrat with even the faintest fear of a tough race in 2010 is rattled. It was easy for some to rationalize the defeats in New Jersey and Virginia last year — and even the flood of polls showing bad news since then.

They are in denial no more: If Democrats can lose in Massachusetts, they can lose anywhere. That is the mind-set that will shape the next nine months for Democrats. It will affect who runs for reelection, who bolts on big votes, who gives money and who speaks out against Obama. All of this will make governing harder.

The focus has been on the special election for the past week. But Democratic insiders were equally concerned about other signs of trouble that got insufficient notice: Polls show Democrats could lose the New York Senate seat, Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson’s favorable ratings plummeted in Nebraska, new polls showed Rep. Steve Driehaus (D-Ohio) trailing badly in his swing district, and Rep. Tim Bishop (D-N.Y.) is in a statistical tie and in more trouble than previously expected.

Comment: OK this is a quote from a Republican blog. But the upset in Massachusetts was so stunning that I believe it accurate!

Upset in Massachusetts!!!

Comment: Now seat him! Seat him tomorrow!

Brown wins Mass. Senate race in epic upset -- GOP victory leaves President Barack Obama's health care overhaul in doubt

Excerpt:

In an epic upset in liberal Massachusetts, Republican Scott Brown rode a wave of voter anger to defeat Democrat Martha Coakley in a U.S. Senate election Tuesday that left President Barack Obama's health care overhaul in doubt and marred the end of his first year in office.

The loss by the once-favored Coakley for the seat that the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy held for nearly half a century signaled big political problems for the president's party this fall when House, Senate and gubernatorial candidates are on the ballot nationwide.

More immediately, Brown will become the 41st Republican in the 100-member Senate, which could allow the GOP to block the president's health care legislation and the rest of Obama's agenda. Democrats needed Coakley to win for a 60th vote to thwart Republican filibusters.

In stunning upset, Scott Brown wins US Senate in Mass.

Excerpt:

Republican Scott Brown pulled off one of the biggest upsets in Massachusetts political history tonight, defeating Democrat Martha Coakley to become the state's next United States senator and potentially derailing President Obama's hopes for a health care overhaul.

The victory caps a dramatic surge in recent days as Brown, a state lawmaker from Wrentham once thought to have little chance of beating a popular attorney general, roared ahead of Coakley to become the first Republican senator elected from Massachusetts since 1972.

With 73 percent of precincts reporting, Brown had 53 percent and Coakley had 46 percent.

In a race that became the center of national attention, Brown's win is widely seen as a vote against the president's agenda from one of the most reliably Democratic states. And in a particularly ironic twist, Brown, in succeeding Edward M. Kennedy -- the late liberal lion who deemed health care "the cause of my life" -- may well be the 41st vote to prevent the Democratic-led plan from moving forward.

Massachusetts' Senate race ripples across the country

Tight Massachusetts race alarms California Dems

Excerpt:

The possible loss of a U.S. Senate seat in Massachusetts has Democrats on edge 3,000 miles away in California, where party activists fear a GOP upset today could trigger a conservative wave and swamp health care reform and the 2010 midterm elections.

"Regardless of the outcome ... this should be a gigantic wake-up call to the Democratic Party - that we're not connecting with the needs, the aspirations and the desires of real people right now," said San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom.

With Republican Scott Brown poised to defeat Democrat Martha Coakley in the Massachusetts race to succeed the late Edward Kennedy, Democrats at the annual Martin Luther King community breakfast in San Francisco were buzzing about the impacts of such an upset: an end to the party's 60-vote supermajority and a possible mortal blow to the health care legislation championed by President Obama.

Comment: Results should be in by 9 Central!

Senate upset in Massachusetts?

GOP hopes for Massachusetts Senate upset

Excerpt:

Republicans may be on the verge of pulling off what was politically unthinkable until now: winning the race to fill liberal lion Edward Kennedy's U.S. Senate seat in Massachusetts.

Tuesday's special election is deadlocked, according to a new poll.

President Obama will campaign Sunday in Massachusetts to try to help save the seat for Democrats, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.

A GOP victory in overwhelmingly Democratic Massachusetts could give Senate Republicans enough votes to block Obama's health care plan. It also could shatter assumptions about the competitiveness of politics in the progressive Northeast.

No Republican has a won a U.S. Senate seat in Massachusetts since 1972. The state's entire congressional delegation is Democratic. Obama crushed Sen. John McCain in Massachusetts in 2008, beating the GOP nominee by 26 percentage points.

Kennedy, an advocate for overhauling health care throughout his career, held his seat for more than 46 years. His brother, President Kennedy, had it for another eight.

A Suffolk University/7 News poll released Thursday night indicates that 50 percent of likely voters back GOP state Sen. Scott Brown. Forty-six percent support state Attorney General Martha Coakley, the Democratic nominee.

Comment: It would be massive if the Dems lost this seat! Special election is Tuesday.