Today was not the day to quit smoking!
Posted on 01/19/2010 2:27:42 PM PST by NormsRevenge
BOSTON – In a contest with major national implications, Massachusetts voters chose a successor to the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy on Tuesday in a down-to-the-wire election that became a referendum on President Barack Obama's sweeping health care overhaul and his first year in office.
A loss — or even a narrow victory — by once-favored Democrat Martha Coakley to insurgent Republican Scott Brown in this Democratic stronghold could signal big political problems for the president's party this fall when House, Senate and gubernatorial candidates are on the ballot nationwide.
More immediately at stake was a critical 60th vote for Democrats to save their health care legislation and the rest of Obama's agenda. A 41st Republican in the 100-member Senate could allow the GOP to block the president's priorities with filibusters.
The election transformed reliably Democratic Massachusetts into a battleground state. One day shy of the first anniversary of Obama's swearing-in, it played out amid a backdrop of animosity and resentment from voters over persistently high unemployment, industry bailouts, exploding federal budget deficits and partisan wrangling over health care.
Days before the vote, White House advisers and other Democrats in Washington began making excuses for they called a poorly run campaign on Coakley's part. Obama flew to Boston for last-minute personal campaigning on Sunday.
Wall Street watched closely. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 116 points, and analysts attributed the increase to hopes the election would make it harder for Obama to make his changes to health care. That eased investor concerns that profits at companies such as insurers and drug makers would suffer.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Today was not the day to quit smoking!
Yes, I made some mistakes in the campaign...
I should have posed nude and shown my two big ones...
potlatch and dead come to mind, but there are many excellent photochoppers her at FR.. just give it time, you lit a fuse or two already. ;-)
He and Harry are having a good cry right about now...
Thanks, I was looking for a pic like that.
....it played out amid a backdrop of animosity and resentment from voters over persistently high unemployment, industry bailouts, exploding federal budget deficits and partisan wrangling demoRATs ramrodding through health care.
Looks like AP almost got it right for a change!!!
You have it now.
I can wait till this is finished.
Since you’re in Mass., how do you think it’s going to turn out?
That’s why the traditional news media is going bankrupt. Too much spin and not enough hard news.
Dang it, John, why the long face?
So, very true.
But note carefully how it was done.
Brown was not a perfect conservative. He is nominally pro-choice, but with many appropriate limitations (parental notification, no public funding, no partial birth abortion, etc.)
The option, however, was a perfect liberal. Rabidly pro-choice, without restrictions and fully funded by the public. Coakley would've led the cheering section at a partial birth abortion.
So, Brown isn't what all of us conservatives might want on abortion. But, far as I know, he's solid on the other social issues -- and wouldn't have any problem voting for a strict constructionist judge. Plus, he's a national security and fiscal conservative.
In blue states, we can with guys (and gals) like this. Let's not be afraid to nominate them.
And, in red states, we need to nominate guys (and gals) like Jim DeMint.
This is how we win. And you've got to win...in order to pass conservative policies.
Just between you and me I believe Scott will win big. Coakhead will take some cities which will boost her numbers but the sane suburbs’ polling places seem busy as all get out.
Voting about 2 PM when it was snowing and raining there were elderly voting in numbers. That's an anti-healthcare vote for sure.
Still praying, though.
*Crossing fingers and holding breath here too*
That was TOOO funny!
What a delicious day!
When do the polls close in MA? I’m interested in when we will start hearing results. Thanks.
Liz has always impressed me as the whining little girl who lost her cupcake to the dog.
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