January 19, 2010

Massachusetts is selecting a new senator today and it will be either Martha Coakley (D) or Scott Brown (R). The position was one which Edward Kennedy had for forty six years and because of this, most people expected the position to remain Democratic but that seems unlikely.

Coakley seems disengaged in the process, aloof to local and national concerns. It seems she expects to get the job because she is a Democrat and is riding on Kennedy's coat tails.

Alternatively, Brown has been engaged and seems to speak to many voters, many of whom are disenchanted. Consequently Independents will overwhelmingly vote for him and give him the seat.

Scott Brown will win because Democrats were and are disengaged and unaware of what their constituents really want or need to hear.

After the election Democrats will blame the economy, Obama, bad ballots, the health care plan, the Afghanistan War and a myriad of other things that really point back to them. Incredibly they don't see that.

They have been in power for years and they have not capitalized on that like they should have. They have not gone out with one voice to explain what their plans and ideas are except to worry about the Democratic/Republican balance of power. They don 't understand that this balance of power is not that important in their state or in any state.

Unfortunately, for Democrats in that state and nationally it is about numbers and not principles or people.

Realistically, American politics is about electing people who are willing to say whatever to win. We know they are fibbing and exaggerating but we like to hear it anyway. Democrats in Massachusetts can't even do that well. The senatorial loss was theirs to lose and they did it very well.

The Massachusetts senatorial race shows Democrats everywhere that they really need to get a clue.