Election Day has finally arrived in Massachusetts and everyone's waiting to see who will soon fill what Democrats and the media refer to as "Ted Kennedy's seat". And, if the latest Massachusetts polls [1] are any indication, the answer looks like it will Republican Scott Brown.
Coakley's numbers have been in a free-fall [2] over the past few weeks and, Democrats are criticizing her and her campaign both off and on the record.
The Democrat finger pointing is important to note because they are essentially trying to absolve Congress, Obama (and the liberal agenda in general) from any and all blame for how this race has played out. Which is the same thing they did when they lost in Virginia and New Jersey a few months ago. They were all over the place telling anyone with a microphone or TV camera that it had nothing to do with what was going on in Washington. It was "all local".
The problem here is that Scott Brown's campaign took the conscious strategy of nationalizing the race, specifically on health care by promising voters he would be the 41st vote against ObamaCare. And if his resulting rising poll numbers aren't enough to credit that strategy, also note Obama's failure to even mention health care on his swing through the state for Martha Coakley on Sunday.
Both sides - and the voters - are all too aware of what's going on.
Just the mere fact that this is even a race at this point, (much less that Brown might actually win), is all anyone needs to know about which way the political wind is blowing this year.
The question is, will Obama and the Democrat leadership take that to heart and back away from their more radical proposals, or will they press the pedal to the metal between now and election day? And will vulnerable moderate Democrats go along with them?
Links:
[1] http://www.cc.org/blog/massachusetts_poll_numbers
[2] http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Coakley-in-free-fall-Young-voters-for-Scott-Brown-81994042.html