Republican Brown Takes Massachusetts Senate Seat

Massachusetts State Senator Scott Brown (R) has defeated his Democratic opponent, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley, to win control of a United States Senate seat that for decades was occupied by the late Ted Kennedy (D), a liberal Democrat. With 100 percent of precincts counted, Brown led Coakley by a 52 percent to 47 percent margin.

The old adage, ‘all politics is local,’ may not have applied as much as it normally does to the race between Brown and Coakley. Many, who watched as Brown erased a 30 point deficit in the polls over the last few weeks, viewed his victory as a referendum on what has taken place in Washington under the direction of the Obama administration and the Democrats in Congress. Not coincidentally, Brown’s ascension to the Senate puts an end to the Democratic super-majority in that chamber. Lacking 60 votes, the prospects of passing a national health care reform bill are all but dead for the Democrats.

However, it remains to be seen how Brown’s triumph will affect President Barack Obama’s strategy on health care. On Wednesday, Obama’s presidential campaign director David Plouffe said, “We have a good health care plan…We need to pass that. We have to lead.”

Brown, who replaces Democrat Paul Kirk, who was appointed to Kennedy’s seat following his death, will serve the remainder of Kennedy’s term, and will face re-election in 2012.