Brown still up in Mass

[Donuthole]

When Massachusetts democrats thought that John Kerry was going to win the presidency, they changed the law to require special elections so Mitt Romney couldn't appoint a republican to the senate. Now that same special election has picked a republican senator, and the democrat governor can't do anything about it.

And now possibly the health care reform bill will be defeated because of this.

That, Alanis, is irony.

Thank you Jon Stewart.

[Viking]

I still can't bring myself to believe that Brown will win this thing, but these poll results are stupifying.

Massachusetts Senate - Special Election, latest polls

I'm technically a democrat but I'm thrilled with this.

[Coach McGuirk]

9:03pm -- With close to 60% in, Brown is up 53%-46%. Boston is 1/3 of the way in. Coakley's going to start running out of votes soon. - Sean Trende

[Coach McGuirk]

8:46pm -- Ben Smith obtained an internal Coakley memo today, blaming national Democrats for the loss. It's basically talking points for why the (potential) loss is not the campaign's or candidate's fault. -Kyle Trygstad

[Viking]

8:46pm -- Ben Smith obtained an internal Coakley memo today, blaming national Democrats for the loss. It's basically talking points for why the (potential) loss is not the campaign's or candidate's fault. -Kyle Trygstad

Fantastic. The healthcare plan is a disaster, especially in this economy.

[Colly Wolly]

MSNBC is airing some of the best comedy I have seen in quite some time. Do tune in.

[statman]

MSNBC is airing some of the best comedy I have seen in quite some time. Do tune in.

And Juan Williams is making a total ass of himself on Fox. The Kool-Aid is being passed around DNC headquarters. Tomorrow morning bluedogs are going to wake up and realize Obama has lead them to Guyana...

[Coach McGuirk]

9:21pm -- AP calls it. Coakley has apparently called Brown and conceded. With 71% in, Brown leads 53 to 46. - Tom Bevan

[Coach McGuirk]

One poll sites take,

Takeaways from Massachusetts

At Public Policy Polling we are very proud of the surveys we did in Massachusetts. We first showed Scott Brown in the lead on Saturday, January 9th, 5 days before any other public poll was released showing him with the advantage. And it appears our final poll released this Sunday night will have nailed the final outcome almost perfectly.

Here are my biggest takeaways from tonight's results:

-This was a repudiation of Barack Obama. Certainly Martha Coakley was a bad candidate and ran a terrible campaign but that doesn't change the fact that we found Obama's approval rating at only 44% with the electorate for today's contest, a huge drop from the 62% of the vote he won in the state in 2008. Brown won over 20% of the vote from people who cast ballots for Obama in 2008, and we found that most of those Brown/Obama voters were folks who no longer approve of the job the President is doing. And in one of the bluest states in the country barely 40% of voters expressed support for the Democratic health care bill.

-Republicans win when they nominate mainstream candidates. Among voters who thought that Scott Brown was either a liberal or a moderate, he won 79-18. Among voters who thought that he was a conservative Coakley won 63-32. There are certain places where the GOP can get away with running far right candidates but they aren't the places where they're going to need to win to get the House back this fall and the White House back in 2012. Brown didn't come across as an ideological extremist and that helped him win over a lot of people who never would have voted for John McCain or George W. Bush- and sure won't vote for Sarah Palin.

-Voters hate both parties right now and that's to the GOP's advantage. One of the most remarkable things about Brown's victory is that it comes even though only 22% of voters in the state have a favorable opinion of Congressional Republicans, with 63% viewing them unfavorably. He was able to overcome that because almost 20% of voters held a negative opinion of both Congressional Democrats and Congressional Republicans. And with those folks Brown had a 72-24 advantage over Coakley, reflecting the reality that in a time when voters are disgusted with all politicians they'll vote for the one that's out of power.

Things could turn around for the Democrats between now and November but it's hard to dispute the notion that this could be 1994 all over again.

[myboynoah]

Brown gave a nice shout out to Mitt during his acceptance speach.

[myboynoah]

Brown gave a nice shout out to Mitt during his acceptance speach.

Watching that speech, it's not hard to see why he won. Very appealing, down-to-earth, charismatic. He also gave a shout out to McCain.

[Guest]

Is Brown now a national Republican figure? In '12 will he be focused on reelection to the seat he won today, or will he be pushed forward to a national campaign?

[Drunk Tank]

So will the Dems delay his seating so they can shove the health care bill down everyone's throat?

[venkman]

When will democrats learn? When you win elections by running to the middle, the voters expect you to govern from the middle. Electing Scott Brown is a severe voter pimp slap to Obama, Reid, Pelosi, and their left-wing agenda.

[YOhio]

I haven't watched cable news since the 2008 elections. When did Susan Estrich get plastic surgery? Rowrrr!!!!