Sizing Up Brown/Warren

2012 Senate Race Looks Familiar

How can Warren be any worse than Coakley? Read & find out

By Monponsett

Senate races in Massachusetts haven't been much fun for the majority of my life, which kicked into gear in the 1970s. Both of our Senators have been powerhouses who were never seriously challenged. Therefore, our Senate races were more Coronations than Contests. They had all the will-or-won't drama of night falling after the day.

Coakley, who looks like a garden gnome statue made a great support for the Brown in the same senate race.Ted Kennedy was one murder away from the Presidency, and that murder didn't disrupt his Senate career. His swagger was such that he rolled over a helpless Mitt Romney in one campaign. John Kerry can't lay claim to a prominent GOP scalp, but he has never been challenged by anyone serious.

All of this changed when Ted went to meet his Judgement in 2009. We had an open Senate seat, and there was going to be a fight for it.

The Demos blew their chance to appoint someone back during the Romney governorship. Fearing that Romney would put some GOP stooge into the seat that would be vacated if Kerry upended George Bush during the 2004 presidential campaign, they withdrew the authority for a Massachusetts governor to appoint someone to fill a vacated Senate seat.

It is ironic that Ted Kennedy championed this cause, because Ted's death ended up giving the Demos a Brown mark on their record when Governor Deval Patrick was unable to stick some liberal joker into the vacated seat. A special election was called for, although Kennedy crony Paul Kirk (who pledged to not be a player in the special election) became our interim Senator.

The election was a dogfight, even in the very limited primaries. The Demos went to war for the spot, with City Year founder Alan Khazei, Celtics managing partner Stephen Pagliuca, 8th District Congressman Mike Capuano, and Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley all throwing their hats into the ring. Coakley won the primary with 47% of the vote.

A former selectman from Wrentham, Scott Brown, had been climbing the ladder for years. His opponent was a rarely-seen black Republican named Jack E. Robinson III. Brown smashed him with an 89-11 landslide in the GOP primary.

The Brown/Coakley brouhaha and that 41st Senate vote

So... we were left with a Scott Brown vs. Martha Coakley brouhaha

Neither candidate was a powerhouse, although Coakley had much more Name Recognition. Coakley was the liberal choice in a liberal state, while Brown had the advantage of being the Republican alternative on the table during a wave of conservative indignation.

Democrats got a Brown mark on their record when Governor Deval Patrick was unable to stick some liberal joker into the vacated seat after Ted died.Coakley positioned herself as a liberal. She was for Health Care Reform, Gay Marriage, Financial Sector Regulation, Abortion, and what have you. Brown sought to paint himself as a fiscal conservative, and an Outsider from politics-as-usual.

Brown had an Ace In The Hole, as well. He pledged to be the 41st Vote, a Republican who would allow his colleagues the ability to filibuster against anything President Barack Obama might sign into law. This was huge, as Obama was trying to push through a controversial and potentially back-breaking Health Care reform act. A vote for Brown was a direct vote against Health Care reform, a rare treat for a voter pool who too often viewed their role in elections as inconsequential.

Coakley, who actually looks like a garden gnome statue that I used to own, had a huge Charisma Deficit against former Cosmopolitan centerfold Brown. Brown sought to portray himself as an Everyman, and his pickup truck/barn coat political ads struck a chord with the blue collar voting bloc. The shortened voting season favored the one-issue campaign of Brown, and hurt the campaign of the more Blue State-ish Coakley.

Both sides had high profile endorsements. Brown was able to get Rudy Giuliuani to come support him, while Coakley drew in Obama and former President Bill Clinton. Brown also picked up former Red Sox ace Curt Schilling after Coakley referred to him as a Yankees fan. This gaffe made her look like an out-of-touch technocrat, while Brown's pickup truck appeal increased exponentially.

Coakley campaigned lightly, assuming an easy win in the Bluest State. Brown worked like a border collie, busting ass and hauling in big money. During a 24 hour Cash Bomb blitz, he took in $1.3 million. Wall Street piled money onto Brown, who failed to mention this in his bull-hockey pickup truck ads. By the time Coakley got serious, it was too late.

In the end, the people of Massachusetts went against their usual M.O. by electing their first Republican Senator since 1972's Edward Brooke. Brown's election hit the nation (who, lacking other races to follow, had become greatly interested in the Bay State battle) like a thunderbolt, and 2010 saw a massive Republican upsurge in Congress. Brown coasted to a 51-47 win.

Now, it is 2012. It's time for another Senate race.

VOTE your choice:
Brown or Warren.Brown pledged to be a work-across-the aisle pol. He has had to skirt the razor's edge, upholding an increasingly radical Republican agenda while being liberal enough to get re-elected in a Blue State. His re-election opportunity comes up this fall.

His opponent is Elizabeth Warren. Warren is from Oklahoma, and lives in Massachusetts because her cushy Harvard job is located here. She has an impeccable liberal background, chairing the Congressional Oversight Panel and creating the United States Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. She gives advice that Presidents heed, and she could probably whip all the GOP candidates at question time.

However, she seems to be stepping into a quagmire that will sink her all the way back to 2010.

The Demos took over this country during the corrupt chaos of the George Bush presidency. Starting in 2006 and peaking with the election of Barack Obama as president, the Demos wrested the country away from the GOP.

However, Obama and the gang couldn't stop the Bush Depression, and it probably became the Bushbama Depression when Barack limped into the second half of his first term. The 2010 GOP blitz and the ascension of the Tea Party was carried on the backs of those who blamed Obama for the Depression, and more thoughtful types who saw 2 years of Demo-controlled failure.

Obama supporters can point to a wildly oppositional GOP presence in Congress. They seem to be willing to starve people to prevent any progress from being made under Obama. Any sort of GOP vote is seen by all but the silly as the rich getting richer, at the expense of the helpless.

However, the President is the one who owns the state of the union. If you don't like the President, you can vote him out every 4 years. If it isn't one of those 4 years, you can sometimes take this out on a Congressman.

My bet is on Brown

Scott Brown can sit back and point to the future, confident that Demos will fall all over the country. Keep Brown in office, and let he and the rest of the country erase the Demo mistakes. Make a lame duck of Obama by hamstringing him with a GOP House and Senate. Never mind if that may be the root of the problem. He just has to not f*ck up. Shoot, if Obama wins, the GOP may beg Scott Brown to run for President in 2016.

If Sarah Palin had Elizabeth Warren's resume, she'd probably be ruling Earth right now... but if charisma were rain, Warren would be a lengthy drought.Warren, who seems like a solid candidate, has several factors working against her. Like Coakley, she's no treat on the eyes. If Sarah Palin had her resume, she'd probably be ruling Earth right now... but if charisma were rain, Warren would be a lengthy drought. That's a tough intangible to swallow against a handsome man who is currently the most popular politician in Massachusetts.

She is Obama-tinged during what will be a backlash campaign season against the troubled President. She is intellectually elite during a campaign dominated by blue collar outrage. Obama may be standing in 2013- the GOP seems determined to run either a plastic vulture capitalist, a loony creationist, or a southern-fried philanderer. If you want to hack away it Obama, you may have to do so by killing his support in the House and Senate.

The election of 2012 looks to be a carbon copy of the election of 2010

Coakley was an out-of-touch elite liberal who was running during a GOP upswell. You couldn't touch Obama, but you could tilt the legislative branch against him. Brown beat her like a drum. Elizabeth Warren is a Harvard liberal policy-setter from Oklahoma, and is running during a period where liberal policies will be skewered over and over during GOP attack ads. Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney will do a lot of Brown's work for him.It's a tight race now, but the odds seem to be leaning in Scott Brown's favor.

He'll throw on the barn coat, hop in the pickup truck, and somehow campaign as an Everyman while voting to protect corporate domination of America. His liberal opponent will trounce him in debate, but will resonate with the Average Joes like a silver spoon full of caviar.

The election of 2012 looks to be a carbon copy of the election of 2010, to the point where this column's betting line will call for a 52/47 Brown victory. I feel about A) Warren like I do about B) the GOP... if the A) liberals or B) GOP are so sure that they are correct, why can't they produce a more viable contender?