There's a special election in Massachusetts today to fill the vacant Senate seat formerly held forever by Ted Kennedy. The news seems to be that a Republican named Scott Brown is likely to defeat the Democrat, Martha Coakley. This would end the Democrats' shaky 60-seat majority, the one that passed Health Care Reform.
Obviously for Democrats, that's not great news. Then again, that seemed to be about the only thing they were able to pass with that 60-seat majority…and even that meant watering down the bill, compromising all over the place and practically begging Democratic Senators (and Joe Lieberman) to vote Democratic. The main damage might be the momentum that Republicans will get from this win, assuming they win.
So here's what I don't get…
All over cable news and web sites are Democrats saying, "Don't worry…this won't derail Health Care Reform. It will pass even if we don't have the big Six-Oh." And maybe that's true. But shouldn't they wait until after the polls close in Massachusetts to be saying that? Right now, shouldn't they be trying to stampede Democrats and others who care about Health Care to go out and, uh, maybe vote for Martha Coakley?