Filibuster Cartoons
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The Senate seat of the late Ted Kennedy is now held by a Republican. In a major upset this week Massachusetts state senator Scott Brown beat out Democratic attorney general Martha Croakley to return Kennedy’s seat to the GOP for the first time since 1953.
How did he pull it off? It’s hard to say. Massachusetts is an extraordinarily left-wing state, so it’s hard to argue — as the Republican mainstream is presently doing — that Republicans are simply more popular than ever right now due to President Obama’s various bungled big-government initiatives on things like healthcare and the environment. Liberal people don’t generally see these things as bad unto themselves, and it’s hard to believe the unknown Scott Brown simply convinced the Massachusetts electorate to turn conservative overnight, so there are clearly some bigger factors at play here.
Some of the more measured analyses of the race, in my opinion, have focused on the fact that Ms. Croakley was a uniquely awful candidate (she spelled “Massachusetts” wrong in one of her ads, for example) and the reality that Mr. Brown is much more moderate than his red state cheerleaders want to acknowledge. Many, on both sides, have also been quick to characterize Brown’s election as a vague “protest vote” against the Washington status quo, which, due to the limits of the American party system, can often entail supporting a candidate you would not otherwise have much to do with.
But what do you think? Post your armchair quarterbacking in the forum through the link below.
