Snatching Defeat from the Jaws of Victory

That would be the Democratic party this morning. In what surely has to go down as one of the most botched campaigns in history, the Democrats lose a seat that belonged to the legendary Ted Kennedy, with his signature issue, health care reform, as a central issue in the campaign.

It's typically no surprise when one party has complete control in Washington and screws it up. Democrats did it when Clinton first took office, Republicans did it when Bush was in office. But I have to say I figured it was going to be a long, long time before Republicans made any kind of inroads to returning to power (even the GOP victories in Virginia and New Jersey last fall were sort of written off). Had you said just a few months ago a Republican would win Kennedy's seat, you'd gotten laughed off the stage.

Problem is, I think Martha Coakley believed that too, in addition to the fact she'd be the first woman senator from the state. I watched MSNBC last night (we recently downgraded our Dish Network package and that's the only news channel we get). Even the trifecta of Chris Matthews, Rachel Maddow and Keith Olberman weren't putting any positive spins on this one. None of the pundits they brought on were saying, "Hey, the night is early, let's wait until all the returns are in." Essentially, the blame game was on, but this time no one could blame Bush or a vast right wing conspiracy. It was a poorly run campaign, pure and simple (and even Matthews and Maddow couldn't say anything bad about Brown, who they admitted ran a masterful campaign).
The Democrats were blindsided by this one, and it was too little too late when they tried to rally at the end. From what I heard, Coakley took the holidays off while Brown campaigned hard. Probably made the difference.

As for health care reform? If it all comes down to whether the Democrats have 60 votes, then it's probably not a good idea. I certainly agree we need some major fixes in health care. We recently had our baby daughter in the hospital. Had we not had insurance, then the bill would have sunk us. Something certainly has to be done here, but who knows what'll happen now.

One thing that will happen is that the Democrats have re-energized the Republican party in a huge way. Not a good move on their part. Suddenly, the 2010 mid-term elections are going to turn into a real dogfight.