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In the wake of complaints about slow responses by utilities to the freak October snowstorm, the Massachusetts Senate Thursday unanimously approved a bill that requires utilities to provide customers without power twice-daily estimates of when electricity would be restored. The bill also mandates that utilities pay a new assessment to help finance costs of a state investigation into utility performance during a storm. The bill also seeks to hold utilities accountable by assuring that all state-imposed penalties on utilities for violations of their storm response plans are distributed to affected customers via a credit. The credit would be based upon...

Although frustrated after going days without power, speakers at a public hearing arranged by the state Department of Public Utilities had mostly words of praise for Western Massachusetts Electric Company. ... Greenfield joined a chorus of voices questioning the power companies, particularly Western Massachusetts electric companies, for their handling of the crisis. An estimated 2 million customers, including 672,000 in Massachusetts, lost power for some period of time following the storm. Some were without heat and electricity for more than a week. ... "The attorney general's office wants answers as to why WMECO's restoration effort took as long as if...

The biggest danger facing Cambridge elitist Elizabeth Warren, the Democrats' celebrity candidate for the U.S. Senate, is that she is turning into Martha Coakley. Two years ago, Coakley, the attorney general, was the odds-on favorite to run away with the U.S. Senate seat made vacant by the death of Ted Kennedy. She rolled up an impressive victory in the four-way Democratic primary, and it seemed her only problem was picking out her office furniture after she, as expected, squashed Republican Scott Brown, the unknown state senator from Wayland. Coakley's supporters -- President Barack Obama, Gov. Deval Patrick, U.S. Sen. John...

If any Massachusetts Freepers want to see Martha Coakley defeated twice in one year and put a true Conservative as Attorney General In Massachusetts please make a donation to Jim McKenna's campaign. He got on the November ballot via write in once he found out the Republicans weren't running a candidate, something that has never been done in Massachusetts history. He needs our help though raising money for the campaing, so if you're able to donate please do so, the address is: http://jimforag.com/moneybomb.htm This is our chance to put Coakley in the unemployment line.

Defeated Massachusetts USA Senate Democratic challenger Martha Coakley said in this YouTube video, MANY THANKS not only to YouTube, but the Howie Carr show, and also ntyranny1. This is a Ms. Coakley’s way of taking in a quiet way, a swap at the state of Arizona and its illegal immigration law. I got a question for Ms. Coakley. Has she even READ THE BILL on this AZ illegal immigration/southern border enforcement law by any chance? It is Democrats like Ms. Coakley, plus any RINOS, that the upcoming mid term elections in November is going to be VERY IMPORTANT. Remember MA...

I did a search and didn't seem to be able to find any posts on Coakley's latest idiocy.

CT News Junkie scoured Democrat Dick Blumenthal's campaign finance filing and found more than $200,000 in PAC contributions. Blumenthal has always taken pride in the fact that he has not accepted special interest money -- until he launched his U.S. Senate campaign. When he told MSNBC shortly after announcing his Senate candidacy that "I've never taken PAC money and I have rejected all special interest money because I have stood strong and have taken legal action against many of those special interests,'' his spokeswoman said he was talking about his past runs for AG, not the current Senate campaign. "He...

There comes a time in the course of human events when it becomes necessary to make a musical parody of those events. And if there were ever one crying out, it’s the Scott Brown/Martha Coakley Senate race. Thank goodness for comedy folk, who, when pressed, can turn out a sendup before a current event loses its currency. That’s where Improv Asylum comes in with its short and sweet “You’re a Good Man, Scott Brown.” It’s related to Clark Gesner’s ‘Peanuts”-based musical in name only - surprisingly, no one ever calls anyone else a blockhead. No, this is pure political parody,...

Union Influence: The White House picks its most frequent visitor to sit on its deficit commission. He believes in big government, in big spending, and that the workers of the world should unite. What could go wrong? Computer security firms have been known to hire the best former hackers because they know best how to stop others like them. But the appointment of Andy Stern, president of the Service Employee International Union (SEIU), to a bipartisan commission to come up with ways to deal with the rapidly rising federal budget deficit is like having a serial arsonist organize Fire Prevention...

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley says a federal law that defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman interferes with the state’s right to regulate marriage. Coakley’s office filed a lawsuit in July challenging the federal Defense of Marriage Act.

THE TEA PARTY MOVEMENT Brown's Campaign Buoyed By Tea Party The Group's Members 'Want To Know Who's Next,' Says One Local Leader In Massachusetts by Neil MunroTuesday, Feb. 2, 2010 Tea Party activists claim some credit for Scott Brown's Senate upset in Massachusetts, and there's good evidence that the decentralized movement played an important, albeit indirect, role.Way back last April 15, Brown courted the movement by appearing at two anti-tax Tea Party events. "I've been up there for 11 years, and I've never voted for one tax increase.... You have to hold your legislators accountable," he told the crowd at...

The Kennedy family has come out swinging against failed Massachusetts Senate candidate Martha Coakley, who lost the race to succeed Ted Kennedy. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, niece of Ted Kennedy, said bluntly that Coakley did not campaign enough. "You’ve got to fight," Townsend said. "That’s why Ted Kennedy was so great on jobs and health care and taking on the special interests. . . Coakley was a candidate who apparently said she didn’t want to be cold," Townsend says.

Could Obey Be Coakley’d? Welcome to a new, real political world. By Kathryn Jean Lopez Goliath has been known to win, or he wouldn’t be Goliath. But he didn’t win this time. And that could significantly affect what happens in November. Scott Brown’s victory in the Massachusetts special election for the seat formerly considered by too many to be Ted Kennedy’s seat, is many varieties of good news. It’s especially good news for the Davids around the country who have their sights set on Washington. The “Yes, He Can” line emblazoned across the photo of Marco Rubio on NR’s cover...

HYANNIS, Mass. — The residents of this cozy village on the southern shore of Cape Cod recollect with pride the sight of his unmistakable hefty, white-topped frame as they exchanged greetings on the street, waited together in line at the local ice cream shop, shared a church pew or returned his dogs — those dogs! — after they found their way into some neighboring yard. And in one of those heartfelt compliments extended only to those of unusually good fortune, they consistently describe Senator Edward M. Kennedy, who died in August, as having been just a regular person. “He was...

Candidates and groups that supported them spent nearly $23 million on Tuesday’s US Senate election, burning through nearly all of it in the frenzied final three weeks of the contest, including $8.5 million on television advertising alone during the seven days leading up to the vote. A flood of national money propelled Republican Scott Brown’s historic upset of Democrat Martha Coakley in the race for the seat long held by Edward M. Kennedy. Brown’s triumph helped tip the balance of power in Washington, giving Senate Republicans enough votes to block Democratic initiatives. The explosion of late spending was all the...

. . . Here's what's being ignored, but should not be forgotten about this race: the sheer meanness of Martha Coakley and her campaign character assassins. TV reporters largely sanitized the race in the final days, refusing to cover the Coakley campaign's vicious direct-mail droppings against Republican Scott Brown. The cover-up was as shameless as the slander. The Massachusetts Democratic Party mailed a package that announced: "1,736 Women Were Raped In Massachusetts in 2008; Scott Brown Wants Hospitals To Turn Them All Away." A TV commercial by Coakley flashed the words "Deny rape victims care" with a voiceover that announces,...

So what went wrong? According to Barack Obama, the problem is he overestimated you dumb rubes' ability to appreciate what he's been doing for you. "That I do think is a mistake of mine," the president told ABC's George Stephanopoulos. "I think the assumption was if I just focus on policy, if I just focus on this provision or that law or if we're making a good rational decision here, then people will get it." But you schlubs aren't that smart. You didn't get it. And Barack Obama is determined to see that you do. So the president has decided...

Reviewing the late donations to Martha Coakley's campaign -- the checks that came in as she collapsed -- I note the same drug company PACs and Washington lobbyists, but I also note that Larry Lucchino, president and part owner of the Red Sox, cut a $2,000 check to Coakley's campaign on January 13. She probably would have benefited more if he had given her a lesson in recent Sox history -- namely, that Curt Schilling is not a Yankees fan. Also, Sox chairman Tom Werner gave Coakley $2,000 on January 14. Her Schilling diss was on the 15th. Some other...

President Obama and the Democrats are like scrambled eggs right now after the results of the Senate race in Massachusetts. All across the liberal universe, television, radio, blogs, print, you name it the message is all garbled in transmission. The election loss is blamed on everything from George Bush to Martha Coakley being a pathetic candidate and somewhere out there, (and I have not found it yet but I know it's there), Global Warming! Folks this is reality TV at its best. For drama and comedy you can't beat it. It was a real hoot watching Chris Mathews on "Hardball"...

Okay boys and girls, it's time to slow down and take a deep breath. And while you're at it, a healthy dose of reality would be good, too. The pundits and bloggers are going bonkers over Scott Brown's victory in Massachusetts. I'll admit to being glad he won for the simple reason that we'll have one less Democrat in Washington once he's sworn in. But contrary to the gushing headlines proclaiming the end of the Left's agenda and the political demise of the Democrat party, Scott Brown is just one guy. He isn't the second coming of Ronald Reagan and...

On the same day Neilsen reported competition-dwarfing numbers for Fox News's coverage of the special election in Massachusetts on Tuesday night, Air America radio declared bankruptcy and will cease live broadcasts immediately. In a statement posted to its web site, Air America's management explained: With radio industry ad revenues down for 10 consecutive quarters, and reportedly off 21% in 2009, signs of improvement have consisted of hoping things will be less bad. And though Internet/new media revenues are projected to grow, our expanding online efforts face the same monetization and profitability challenges in the short term confronting the Web operations...

Kerry Kennedy, daughter of Robert Kennedy comments on the MA elections and says the loss to Brown was entirely Coakley’s fault thanks to a poorly run campaign. Kerry thinks it’s a shame for the people of Massachusetts to replace her Uncle’s illustrious seat with Scott Brown and believes it will be very detrimental to the country. She believes Scott’s win has nothing to do with healthcare or the Obama administration, and rather has to do with local election issues, in opposition to Steve Malzberg’s claim that there were no local issues included on Brown’s campaign platform.

What a historic night! We’ve all talked for months how the American people have awakened. How we have all decided that enough is quite enough. There is no more evidence that America has had it with the out of control corrupt government, and this President, than Scott Brown’s absolute blowout win is Massachusetts on Tuesday night. This is a state that is so blue, so seemingly solid democrat/communist, that the democrat/communist candidate, Martha Coakley.....

The people have more than spoken. From the heart and soul of dependably Demo cratic Massachusetts, a state long saddled with the unfortunate nickname "Taxachusetts," voters have issued a primal scream: Enough! But can President Obama hear? Leaving a press conference on the first day of the rest of his term, the clearly shaken and crippled leader was assaulted with a softball question: "What's the lesson of the Massachusetts vote?" Obama was caught off guard. He had no spin handy that would fail to make him look arrogant -- or loony. So he snubbed the obvious query. And got the...

BOSTON -- What a difference a year makes. President Obama offered a mea culpa today following the election of a Republican in true-blue Massachusetts -- warning that Democrats should not "jam" in a health care reform bill and wait for the newly elected Scott Brown to be sworn into office. "Here's my assessment of not just the vote in Massachusetts, but the mood around the country: The same thing that swept Scott Brown into office swept me into office," Obama said in an interview with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos. "People are angry and they are frustrated. Not just because of...

I follow national security news stories pretty closely, but I have to admit to being shocked by Human Events magazine’s publication of an excerpt from a new book. It is Courting Disaster: How the CIA Kept America Safe and How Barack Obama Is Inviting the Next Attack, by Marc Thiessen. Thiessen was a top speechwriter for President George W. Bush. For that reason he had access to very highly classified national security documents and information. One excerpt about information gathered from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (“KSM”) is astounding, mind-boggling: [KSM’s] resistance is described by one senior American official as “superhuman.” Eventually,...

Talking Points Memo has what it is calling a leaked,well, talking points memo circulated to Senate Dems. There is an unusual whiff here that the loss of the 60th vote is actually something of a relief — in that if Democrats fail to get any bipartisan support for their 2010 legislative agenda it enables them to cast the GOP not just as minority obstructionists, but as abdicants of their shared responsibility to govern. MASSACHUSETTS ELECTION MEANS THAT SENATE REPUBLICANS HAVE MORE RESPONSIBILITY TO GOVERN, NOT OBSTRUCT · We welcome Scott Brown to the Senate. · While Senator-elect Brown's victory changes...

WOBURN, Mass. – Sitting in my room at the Red Roof Inn, after a day of covering the Massachusetts Senate campaign in the city of Lawrence, it is interesting to watch the excitement surrounding the campaign of Republican Scott Brown, who won the seat, formerly held by the late Sen. Ted Kennedy. “I’m ready to go to Washington without delay!” declared U.S. Senator-elect Brown at his victory speech Tuesday night. It’s really quite remarkable that he beat Martha Coakley, the Democrat that everyone expected to win, at least early on. One wonders what this means for the fall elections. Brown...

With the historic win by Scott Brown on Tuesday for the Senate seat vacated by the late Ted Kennedy, Americans yearning for freedom are breathing a huge sigh of relief. This victory will be written about for years because numerous factors were actually at play that factored into this stunning victory by Brown. The Democrats cannot hide the fact that these election results were a repudiation against Obama and the Democrat liberal agenda. For the first twelve months of the Obama administration, the Democrats kept referring back to his victory and how America had given them the green light for...

Republican leaders predicted Wednesday the GOP victory in the Massachusetts Senate race will spur a similar renaissance in Nevada and lead to the defeat of U.S. Sen. Harry Reid in November.State GOP Chairman Chris Comfort, in a conference call with reporters, said the win by Scott Brown over Democrat Martha Coakley signals a "sinking ship" for Reid, the Democratic majority leader.He said Brown's victory, coming on the heels of Republican governor victories last fall in New Jersey and Virginia, "will pale in comparison to what we're going to do to Harry Reid."Democratic strategists countered that Reid is well-positioned for the...

Martha Coakley’s campaign had originally planned on spending less money in the general election against Scott Brown than it had spent winning the Democratic primary, its chief strategist said in an interview today. Many people had expected the four-way primary to be tougher than the general election against Mr. Brown, a little-known Republican state senator. So the Coakley campaign, which spent roughly $5 million to win the Democratic nomination, entered the general election with only about $450,000 left and plans to spend only about $1.8 million against Mr. Brown in the final stretch, which was less than two months long....

Health Care: Will the administration seize the moment of Scott Brown's victory to work out real solutions, or will it follow Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid over the cliff? Or is it just about government control? Before Sen.-elect Brown became the Scott heard 'round the world, House Speaker Pelosi was asked what his victory in the bluest of blue states would mean. "Certainly the dynamic will change depending on what happens in Massachusetts," she replied in a bit of an understatement. The dynamic has changed, yet the Democrats, as the country song goes, apparently don't know when to hold them...

Attorney General Martha Coakley, on the losing end of state Sen. Scott Brown’s upset win during Tuesday’s U.S. Senate special election, will ask voters in November to allow her to keep her job. A Coakley aide confirmed Wednesday afternoon that Coakley would seek reelection to a job that many high-ranking elected Democrats had eyed in recent months, expecting Coakley to win the Senate seat. Coakley’s critics say she ran an underwhelming Senate campaign while her defenders say Brown benefited from a political climate that shifted in his favor.

Return to the Article January 20, 2010Massachusetts Earthquake Puts Everything in PlayBy James Simpson Scott Brown's stunning electoral victory in Massachusetts yesterday confirms to the world what we have known all along: Patriotism and common sense are alive and well. Real Americans remain a majority in this country, and the massively-funded, corrupt Democrat machine, engorged with our tax dollars, radical billionaire money, and lock-step union support, cannot buy elections even in hardcore Democrat states once the sleeping giant has awoken. And make no mistake about it: We are wide awake! The Democrats were certainly hamstrung by choosing an impossibly...

THAT OLD OBAMA MAGIC IS BACKJanuary 20, 2010 Once again, the people have spoken, and this time they quoted what Dick Cheney said to Pat Leahy. Less than two weeks ago, The New York Times said that so much as a "tighter-than-expected" victory for Massachusetts Democratic Senate candidate Martha Coakley would incite "soul-searching among Democrats nationally," which sent Times readers scurrying to their dictionaries to look up this strange new word, "soul." A close win for Coakley, the Times said, would constitute "the first real barometer of whether problems facing the party" will affect the 2010 elections. But when Coakley...

RUSH: Ladies and gentlemen, for the first time in my life I am proud of Massachusetts, as I paraphrase Michelle (My Belle) Obama. For the first time in my life I am proud of Massachusetts. I seem to remember some hack saying you never want to waste a crisis. Some hack in the White House said that. I think his name was Rahm Emanuel. That's exactly right. Well, they are in a crisis right now, and turnaround is fair play. So let me say, ladies and gentlemen, you never want to waste a crisis, especially when it's the libs experiencing...

Despite being stung by her devastating loss to Republican Scott Brown in the US Senate race, Democratic Attorney General Martha Coakley will return to work this week and seek reelection in the fall, aides said. "She loves her job," said Coakley spokesman Corey Welford. "It allows her to take on issues she feels passionately about, to fight for people in the state." "She is going to run for reelection. Many of the issues she discussed during this campaign are issues she's already fully engaged in as attorney general -- holding Wall Street accountable, taking on predatory lenders, fighting to make...

Barack Obama went to Boston to rally voters and got a pie in the face. He lost his innocence as the valiant young president and also lost his sixty-vote majority in the Senate. Now we will find out what the man is made of--either a true political leader or just another show horse. Dozens of explanations are being offered for why the Dems were humiliated in Massachusetts. Democrats incline to grab easy answers. The president, if he is tough enough, will instead face the hard message of this political fiasco. The special election displayed monumental miscalculations by which Obama has...

Special Post-Election Analysisby Rosa OrtizFormer Chief of Housekeeping Staff, Coakley For Senate CampaignI have been in this country for now many years and I have learn many things. Like to put the 20% away for the rainy day. Do no to mix the permanent press with the cottons. And as Dio is my witness, do no never take the job for the Kennedys.Please for to let me explain. I am being to not blog for many months here because I am very busy. Continued

I went to the White House on Tuesday night, the eve of the first anniversary of Barack Obama’s inauguration. On January 20, 2009, Pennsylvania Avenue was packed with a sea of adoring people. On Tuesday night, following Scott Brown’s seismic victory in Massachusetts, I decided to check out the White House grounds. I drove through Rock Creek Park and got to the White House pretty quickly, in about twenty minutes. The grounds were eerily silent. They seemed abandoned and dead. Having been in the White House, I know what lights are part of the residence and the East and West...

The Fuhrer throws a fit after learning "Ted Kennedy's seat" no longer belongs to a Democrat. Video at the link

This clip from this morning’s Morning Joe is currently making the rounds due to Peggy Noonan’s remark that today’s Mass. special election GOP candidate Scott Brown is popular because he “looks like an American” (which is not the full quote, though she doesn’t exactly redeem herself either). Actually, Noonan’s remark may be the least offensive to come out of this morning’s chat session on the subject; Donny Deutsch thinks the fact Brown not black or a woman may offer a “visceral comfort” to voters. The more things change, etc. “We’re going back to basics, we’ve obviously had our first African...

There is nothing that William Rivers Pitt loves more than putting on his Pretend Pundit cap and prognosticate as some sort of political insider for the DUmmies. We have seen this many times and Will inevitably ends up with egg on his face. Remember that courtroom somewhere in Ohio where lawyers for John ("I served in Vietnam") Kerry supposedly filed papers that would somehow overturn the 2004 presidential election? That was a Pitt "scoop." Oh, and Obama would have no problem getting ObamaCare passed because he "parked it" according to Pitt after one of his many boring speeches on...

“We have just witnessed a wicked political pivot across our country.” – Sarah Palin

The Scott Brown, Martha Coakley race is over. The results are not surprising nor undesirable. This is because anybody who dares call another—close your eyes if you cannot stand foul language—a Yankee fan deserves to lose. Incidentally, congratulations, Mr 41. Running for President, are we? How did the pre-election polls stack up? Not too badly. They were useful and accurate on average. But what do “useful” and “accurate” mean? Polls can be viewed two ways. The first is as a snapshot of opinion. That is, as a survey of voters’ thoughts given the information known at the time the poll...

Dream up a gargantuan backlash against Barack Obama’s left-wing gospel, and you still could not invent the notion of a relatively unknown, conservative Scott Brown knocking off an Obama-endorsed, liberal, female attorney in liberal Massachusetts — in a race to fill the seat once held by Ted Kennedy. If a liberal senatorial candidate can be defeated in Massachusetts, eleven months after the Obama hope-and-change blitzkrieg, it is hard to believe that any liberal seat is necessarily safe anywhere. So the real story is not a populist backlash, but a growing populist backlash, whose ultimate nature and magnitude are as yet...

I knew it was over for Martha Coakley when John Kerry and Obama went out of their way to make fun of the opposition’s truck. There is, however, a difference between the two men. Kerry can’t help himself. Obama, ever the chameleon, is pretending. About a year ago, Obama went to a fast food restaurant with Joe Biden and made a point of asking for Dijon mustard with his hot dog. This was far different from John Kerry asking for Swiss cheese with his Philly Cheese steak during the 2004 campaign. Kerry probably did not know any better, Obama does....

With the upset victory (understatement of the day) in Massachusetts of Republican Scott Brown over shoo-in Democrat Attorney General Martha Coakley, the pundit establishment will be giving their political pals a tip: move to the center, and I really hope my Bay State brethren don't let their guard down.

My email inbox is filling up with ecstatic messages from Republican friends in America (”most spectacular event ever!”, “The city on the hill is back”, etc) and with good reason. This is not just any Senate victory: the election of Scott Brown to Ted Kennedy’s seat is a mind-blowing reverse for Obama. How on earth could a president who was elected only a year ago on such a huge popular swing have managed to lose a Senate seat that seemed to belong to his party as a birthright? But the even more important question from the British point of view...

Democratic Attorney General Martha Coakley limps out of the bruising Senate battle with a damaged image and an uncertain future, while state Sen. Scott Brown bursts onto the national scene as a rising Republican star, experts told the Herald yesterday. Snip-- “This is the coveted prize - the pelt of Ted Kennedy’s seat,” said Thomas Whalen, a Boston University political historian. Snip-- “There’ll be speculation that the 2012 Republican ticket will be (Sarah) Palin-Brown,” Whalen said.