Yesterday, Massachusetts voters elected Republican Scott Brown to the United States Senate. Brown will take the seat that belonged to the late Edward Kennedy, who served the people of Massachusetts for 47 years.
Brown becomes the first Republican senator from Massachusetts since Edward Brooke in 1972. The defeat for Democrats is sure to be felt around the country. Mid-term elections are approaching and many Democratic senators are wondering if the frustration felt by Massachusetts voters will be echoed from sea to shining sea.
My opinion: Scott Brown was the lesser of two evils. I wanted to see what Liberty Party candidate Joseph Kennedy (who is of no relation to the late Senator) could do but he did little, if any campaigning. It's hard to vote for someone when you don't know where they stand on the issues.
Coakley was leading by a comfortable margin in preliminary polls going as far back as November. Polls mean nothing. What means something is the slew of attack ads that came out as the campaign wore on. These messages were put out by outside groups and were not endorsed by any candidate. Coakley should have distanced herself from the hate ads showing Brown as this evil force. In all fairness, the ads showing Coakley getting cozy with lobbyists were no better. I also think the electorate was tired of seeing the Kennedy family everywhere on the television whenever a Democratic candidate had a television spot running.
Republicans everywhere are rejoicing and somewhere in Utah, Mitt Romney is lamenting his decision to get out of the political jungle of Massachusetts. The backlash of Massachusetts voters is being felt by lawmakers in Washington, who somehow thought President Barack Obama was going to rescue and repair the country in less than a year with hope and hype. It hasn't happened. Luckily, there is still some time before the crucial mid-term elections for everyone to get back to work.
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