Massachusetts senate race

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Massachusetts senate race

January 20th, 2010 | Add a Comment

The voters have spoken. Republican State Senator Scott Brown has won the Massachusetts special election to fill Sen. Ted Kennedy’s seat. ABC NEWS has learned that Democratic candidate Martha Coakley has called Brown and conceded. What was at stake in this race? John Berman, filing for WORLD NEWS, notes “a special election that could completely alter the national agenda.” Massachusetts has been reliably Democratic for some time now…how did this state become a battleground? Berman notes “Independents, the biggest voting bloc in Massachusetts, turning to the Republican. Even some who voted for Barack Obama.” In his campaign, Scott Brown aimed to project an image of a “regular guy”…Berman tells us “his truck (was) a centerpiece of his campaign.” But behind the scenes this was not your father’s Republican candidate-Berman reports that “on-line he took a page out of the Obama playbook. He raised more than a million dollars a day every day last week.” And a look at today’s social networking tools shows another advantage-Berman: “5 times as many fans on Facebook as Martha Coakley. Twice as many Twitter followers. Google searches running 2-1 in favor of Brown.” So what would a Brown victory do to “completely alter the national agenda” as Berman put it? Brown would become the 41st Republican in the U.S. Senate which Jon Karl notes “When it comes to health care, a Republican win gives them the ability to block further votes in the Senate, and would leave Democrats with no good options.” More on that in the entry below.