Brown wins Massachusetts Race

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Registered: 03-18-2000
Brown wins Massachusetts Race
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Wed, 01-20-2010 - 9:48am

Scott Brown Victory a 'Repudiation' of Obama, Health Care?


Republicans, Democrats Spar on Meaning of Massachusetts Race

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/scott-brown-defeat-coakley-means-obama/story?id=9609602


In the wake of Republican Scott Brown's stunning defeat of Democrat Martha Coakley in the race to replace the late Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts, the debate has begun about what the outcome means for President Obama and Democrats nationwide.


Brown won 52 percent of voters to Coakley's 47 percent in Tuesday's special Senate election. Coakley, the state attorney general, had a 30-point lead three months ago.


Republicans believe a win in the bluest of blue states, where a Republican had not been elected to the U.S. Senate since 1972, amounts to a popular rebuke of the president's agenda.


"There's been a pattern here that began last spring and the administration has refused to acknowledge what the people out across the country have been saying," GOP chairman Michael Steele said on "Good Morning America" today.


"For the Democrats, this is clearly not the change they expected, but it's certainly the change the people of Massachusetts -- like the people in New Jersey and Virginia -- wanted," Steele said.


Steele called the outcome in Massachusetts a "repudiation" of Democrats' health care overhaul legislation pending in Congress, saying 41 Republican votes in the Senate now effectively kills the bill in its current form. Democrats needed to retain 60 votes to prevent a Republican filibuster.


"Start from scratch. Start by listening to the people," Steele advised his Democratic colleagues on health care.


For his part, Brown had campaigned in opposition to the Obama health care proposal, saying he would vote against the bill if elected.


"One thing is very, very clear as I travelled throughout the state," Brown, a lawyer and former model, said in his acceptance speech last night. "People do not want the trillion-dollar heath care plan that is being forged."


But many Democrats rebutted the notion that Brown's victory is a major statement on Obama and the Democrat's legislative agenda, including health care overhaul.


"We won the House and Senate in 2006, we won the White House in 2008. ... People sent the unmistakable message they wanted change. We have to deliver on that," former Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said on 'GMA.'


"The Republicans have chosen their path: they are doing the bidding of insurance companies, just as they're going to do with big banks as it relates to financial reform. We have a good health care plan ? and we need to pass that," Plouffe said.



Obama's Reaction to Brown Win?

The White House has previously deflected suggestions that a Brown victory would amount to a referendum on the Obama presidency, vowing to move ahead on its agenda.


"I think there's a tremendous amount of upset and anger in this country about where we are economically," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters Tuesday.


Asked whether he believed Americans are now attaching that frustration with Washington to Obama, Gibbs said, "I think there is certainly some attachment to us."


Still, the administration and many Democrats plan to continue pursuing their agenda "full speed ahead."


Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Tuesday night the loss of the 60-vote majority will not change the Democrats' priorities.


"While Senator-elect Brown's victory changes the political math in the Senate, we remain committed to strengthening our economy, creating good paying jobs and ensuring all Americans can access affordable health care," Reid said in a statement. "We hope that Scott Brown will join us in these efforts. There is much work to do to address the problems Democrats inherited last year, and we plan to move full speed ahead."


Although Democrats no longer have the votes needed to thwart a Republican filibuster, they maintain the largest Senate majority either party has enjoyed since 1979 and still have the ability to pass legislation through reconciliation, a process that bypasses normal Senate rules by only requiring 50 votes.



What's Next for Health Care Reform

Brown has said he opposes Democrats' health care overhaul working its way through Congress, leaving Democrats scrambling to develop contingency plans for the bill's passage.


Several congressional sources say reconciliation or, forcing legislation though on a simple majority is off the table because it would mean having to start over and could risk losing some Democratic moderates, which in turn could cost Democrats the bill altogether. But a few Democrats have suggested reconciliation is be a viable option.


House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told reporters Monday, "Let's remove all doubt, we will have health care -- one way or another."


Another option: The House could pass the Senate version of the health care bill verbatim, which would send the legislation to the president's desk without protracted negotiations.


"Whether there are 59 seats in the Senate or 60, we still have to work hard to get our economy back on track. We still have to work hard to make the promise of affordable, accessible health care for millions of Americans a reality," Gibbs said Tuesday.


Meanwhile, public support for the president and Democrats' plan to overhaul the health care system continues to wane.


In the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll, 51 percent of Americans said they oppose health care overhaul efforts, with only 44 percent in favor.


At its peak, in September and again in November, 30 percent of Americans "strongly" backed the proposed changes. With the plan still undergoing modifications, that has dropped to 22 percent, a new low. Substantially more, 39 percent, are "strongly" opposed, a number that's held steadier.



The Newest Senate Republican

Brown, 50, will become the 41st Republican in the Senate after he's sworn in in the coming days.


The state senator, lawyer and former model is married to Gail Huff, a reporter at the Boston ABC affiliate and former co-host of a parenting show on the Lifetime television network, and has a daughter, Ayla, who was a semi-finalist on American Idol in 2006.


Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin said he would notify the Senate on Wednesday that Brown had been elected, even though he had said earlier it could take more than two weeks to certify the special election results.


Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Tuesday that Brown would be seated "as soon as the proper paperwork has been received."


A delay could give Democrats time to try to push through final passage of Obama's health care plan, though some have suggested Brown's victory should put the process on hold.


"In many ways the campaign in Massachusetts became a referendum not only on health care reform but also on the openness and integrity of our government process," Virginia Democrat Sen. Jim Webb said in a statement.


"To that end, I believe it would only be fair and prudent that we suspend further votes on health care legislation until Senator-elect Brown is seated."



GOP Says Brown's Senate Victory Sends a Message to Obama

While the many Democrats deny that the Massachusetts race is a preview of what's to come in the November general election, Republicans say the symbolism of Brown's victory is hard to deny.


"As we look forward to the midterm elections this November, Democrats nationwide should be on notice: Americans are ready to hold the party in power accountable for their irresponsible spending and out-of-touch agenda, and they're ready for real change in Washington," National Republican Campaign Committee chairman John Cornyn said after Brown's victory.


Massachusetts, where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by more than three to one, has long been a Democratic stronghold, sending two Democratic senators to Washington for each of the past 31 years.


The last time a Republican senator was elected in Massachusetts was November 1972, when Sen. Edward Brooke won the coveted seat.


Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., the chairman of the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee said the message voters sent in Brown's victory was not lost on the party.


"I have no interest in sugar coating what happened in Massachusetts," Menendez said. "There is a lot of anxiety in the country right now. Americans are understandably impatient. The truth is Democrats understand the economic anger voters feel, that's in large part why we did well in 2006 and 2008.


"In the days ahead, we will sort through the lessons of Massachusetts: the need to redouble our efforts on the economy, the need to show that our commitment to real change is as powerful as it was in 2008, and the reality that we cannot take a single thing for granted and cannot afford even a second of complacency."

 


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iVillage Member
Registered: 11-06-2003
Wed, 01-20-2010 - 10:47am

That's the problem with Democrats. They won't continue the fight. Did they rally around Obama last November simply because he was Obama? It would appear the issues he's fighting for aren't important enough for them to turn out at vital elections to keep the momentum going.


It's been

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-28-2009
Wed, 01-20-2010 - 10:52am

Excellent post.

<>

That's it in a nutshell.

Community Leader
Registered: 04-05-2002
Wed, 01-20-2010 - 11:02am

Excellent post. I think you've covered it all.

We want it all and we want it now and we want it at no cost to ourselves.

"I'll give Obama points for at least getting into the ring and taking on the fight, but it's not enough. His solutions don't seem substantial enough. He's throwing money at the problems instead of laying out measurable plans that have clear, definitive beginnings and endings."

That sums up my feeling, too. He suffers from analysis paralysis (arguably better than the shoot from the hip approach but a quarterback can hold onto the ball too long). We're so much in the hole that digging out is going to be long and painful and people don't seem to realize it and too many want to go back to what caused the problem to begin with. What happened to being creative and innovative approach, dig down deep attitude that made America great?











iVillage Member
Registered: 05-23-2008
Wed, 01-20-2010 - 11:37am

The people have spoken.

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-23-2008
Wed, 01-20-2010 - 11:41am

I agree with you.

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-06-2003
Wed, 01-20-2010 - 1:47pm

I hope this vote was because people thoughtful considered all the issues and that it wasn't just a backlash of one party against another.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-23-2003
Wed, 01-20-2010 - 1:59pm

This is how narrow-minded & me-centric Americans can be:


(excerpts from:


iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Wed, 01-20-2010 - 2:03pm

Many in Mass. were unhappy about their state's compulsory

 


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iVillage Member
Registered: 10-28-2009
Wed, 01-20-2010 - 2:20pm
If you look at any of the news coverage, you'd think that the Republicans took back the Senate, the House, the White House, and every other elected position in this country. It's one seat in the Senate. Big deal. So the Democrats don't have their 60 vote super majority. It doesn't mean that things can't get accomplished. To all those Democrats, I say buck up and get something done.
iVillage Member
Registered: 11-17-2009
Wed, 01-20-2010 - 2:40pm

((I hope this vote was because people thoughtful considered all the issues and that it wasn't just a backlash of one party against another.))

In Massachusetts? It's the bluest of the blue states. I think many, many people thoughtfully considered all the issues. This is what the people want. If Obama and the democrats don't start considering what the people want....all the people...not just the far left fringe....November is most likely going to be a disaster for them.

IMO, it would be hard to think that it was just a backlash of one party against another....democrats out number republicans 3:1 in MA.

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