Thread: Republican declared victor in pivotal Massachusetts Senate r

January 19, 2010
Republican declared victor in pivotal Massachusetts Senate race
By Glen Johnson and Liz Sidoti
The Associated Press
Scott Brown and Democrat Martha Coakley battled for vacant Kennedy seat, result threatens to derail health care reform

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 Ms. Coakley for the seat that the late senator 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 Ms. Coakley to win for a 60th vote to thwart Republican filibusters.

The Senate election in Massachusetts

Turnout was expected to be twice as heavy as the 20 per cent of voters who participated in the December party primaries, despite a mix of snow and rain showers across the state virtually all day. Polls closed at 8 p.m. (ET).

The election transformed reliably Democratic Massachusetts into a battleground state. One day shy of the first anniversary of Mr. Obama's swearing-in, the election played out amid a backdrop of animosity and resentment from voters over persistently high unemployment, industry bailouts, exploding federal budget deficits and partisan wrangling over health care.

Though he wasn't on the ballot, the President was on many voters' minds.

"I voted for Obama because I wanted change. ... I thought he'd bring it to us, but I just don't like the direction that he's heading," said John Triolo, 38, a registered independent who voted in Fitchburg.

Dissecting the Massachusetts election

He said his frustrations, including what he considered the too-quick pace of health care legislation, led him to vote for Mr. Brown.

But Robert Hickman, 55, of New Bedford, said he backed Ms. Coakley "to stay on the same page with the President."

Even before the first results were announced, administration officials were privately accusing Ms. Coakley of a poorly run campaign and playing down the notion that Mr. Obama or a toxic political landscape had much to do with the outcome.

Ms. Coakley's supporters, in turn, blamed that very environment, saying her lead dropped significantly after the Senate passed health care reform shortly before Christmas and after the Christmas Day attempted airliner bombing that Mr. Obama himself said showed a failure of his administration.

Finger-pointing began more than a week ago as polls started showing a tight race. Mr. Obama flew to Boston for last-minute personal campaigning on Sunday.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the President "was both surprised and frustrated ... not pleased" at how competitive the race had become in the final weeks.

Wall Street watched the election closely. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 116 points, and analysts attributed the increase to hopes the election would make it harder for Mr. Obama to make his changes to health care. That eased investor concerns that profits at companies such as insurers and drug makers would suffer.

Across Massachusetts, voters who had been bombarded with phone calls and dizzied with non-stop campaign commercials for Ms. Coakley and Mr. Brown gave a fitting turnout despite intermittent snow and rain statewide.

Secretary of State William Galvin, who discounted sporadic reports of voter irregularities throughout the day, predicted turnout ranging from 1.6 million to 2.2 million, 40 per cent to 55 per cent of registered voters. The Dec. 8 primary had a scant turnout of about 20 per cent.

As polls opened, Mr. Brown drove up to his polling place in Wrentham in the green pickup truck that came to symbolize his upstart, workmanlike campaign that in the past week pulled him into a surprise dead heat in polls.

"It would make everybody the 41st senator, and it would bring fairness and discussion back to the equation," the state senator said of a potential victory. He spent the rest of the day out of public view, crafting evening rally remarks that had the potential to be an early State of the Union speech for the national Republican Party.

Ms. Coakley, stunned to see a double-digit lead evaporate in recent weeks, counted on labour unions and reawakened Democrats to turn out on her behalf and preserve a seat Mr. Kennedy and his brother, President John F. Kennedy, held for over 50 years. The senator died in August of brain cancer.

"We're paying attention to the ground game," Ms. Coakley, the state's attorney general, said casting her vote in suburban Medford. "Every game has its own dynamics."

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/wor ... le1436986/

1994 of 2168 Precincts Reporting - 92%
Name Party Votes Vote %
Brown , Scott GOP 1,062,322 52%
Coakley , Martha Dem 949,660 47%
Kennedy , Joseph Oth 20,410 1%

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

GOD ANSWERS ALL WHO PRAY VERY HARD!!!!!!

YIPPEE! YIPPEE! YIPPEE!

Thank you Scott Brown! Thank you Massachusetts! Thank you fellow Republicans, Independents and a very special thanks to the many many Democrats who did the right thing and supported Scott Brown.

America is uniting. Lets make sure our candidates never let them down again.

Mary Jo Kopechne rest in peace .. we will take it from here

Originally Posted by AirborneSapper7

Mary Jo Kopechne rest in peace .. we will take it from here

Yep, we sure will !!!

I got a good laugh from this post



THE FINAL KENNEDY ASSASSINATION

The post from “icemanâ€

Take the "death panels" out of the bill and I still don't want it. It's Socialized Medical Care and that's UNAMERICAN!!!!!!!!

Dixie