Forget Red State vs. Blue State, Mass May Turn Brown

Whether you live in Mass or not doesn't matter at this point. Everyone is paying attention to the special election on Jan. 19th. Stopping the health care nightmare is the obvious reason for the interest. Not to mention that replacing Ted Kennedy with Republican Scott Brown would send a message to Obama that simply can't be ignored. Governor Deval Patrick is doing all he can for Martha Coakley:

Friends:

I am proud to support Martha Coakley in the upcoming election for United States Senator on January 19th, and we need you to become an active part of her campaign, too. Because we have a fight on our hands.

Forces mobilized to derail our progress towards meaningful health care reform are lining up in support of one of Martha's opponents. These are the same forces committed to opposing reproductive freedom and weakening civil and human rights. These are not just Martha's challenges. They are challenges to all of us and to our values.

Martha has been a strong partner and friend over the past several years. She shares our commitment to fairness and to equality for all people in our Commonwealth and our country. She has a strong vision for the needs we face: access to good jobs, environmental stewardship, strong schools, and our clean-energy future. She is totally committed to passing meaningful health care reform at the national level--the cause so central to the life and work of our beloved Senator Ted Kennedy--and will be a proud and essential 60th vote that ensures its passage.

I cherish your support and friendship, and I hope you will consider giving generously in the ways you can to help her candidacy. There are two big ways you can make a difference:

1. Please make a contribution to directly fund Martha's campaign. Martha needs resources to compete on television in the final days, and to fund her grassroots get-out-the-vote operation leading up to and on January 19th. Can you give $25, $50, or even $100 now?

2. Please dedicate two or more hours to Martha's volunteer operation. Martha's Republican opponent has tapped into a national network committed to derailing our best chances at health care reform, and they are making thousands of telephone calls to Massachusetts voters each day. Martha needs your help to make sure that our neighbors, friends, and colleagues hear her positive message and turn out to vote on January 19th. Can you join one of Martha's phoning operations around the state for two hours over the next ten days?

To help in other ways, please call the campaign directly at (617) 241-0200 or e-mail Martha's field director, Katie Sullivan, an alum of our 2006 campaign, at volunteer@marthacoakley.com.

You know the gravity of the challenges before us. With Martha Coakley as our partner in the U.S. Senate, we will make progress on January 19th and beyond.

Please vote on Tuesday, January 19th, and join me in supporting Martha in this critical and historic election.

Sincerely,

Deval Patrick

He's right about one thing, this is a "critical and historic election". I can't help but be pessimistic. This Rasmussen report accurately describes why.

If you're in MA and have doubts about the health care bill this election is your only chance to make a difference in the national debate. Make no mistake, as the entire country realizes, if Martha Coakley wins this election Obamacare will pass.

Given the fact that the above Rasmussen report shows that only 32% of Mass voters approve of the Romneycare disaster I find it interesting that 53%, again according to Rasmussen, approve of the current health care bill going through congress.

"In 2006, Massachusetts implemented its own statewide version of health care reform which has been cited as a model for the national plan. But just 32% of the state’s voters consider that reform a success. Thirty-six percent (36%) consider the plan a failure, and another 32% are not sure."

"In the Bay State, 53% favor the plan working its way through Congress and 45% oppose it."

If those statistics prove true then it's a problem for us regarding this election. There are far too many Democrats that will vote for Coakley regardless of her views simply because of the D next to her name. It's simply a sad reality of modern day politics in states that are heavily tilted toward one party or another.

Scott Rasmussen summed up this race perfectly in this article.

"Clearly, his supporters are more enthusiastic about the race and that gives him a chance. But, as they have from the beginning, the dynamics of the race still make it likely that Massachusetts voters on January 19 will send another Democrat to Washington"

That pretty much sums it all up. We will do everything we can to get as many votes for Scott Brown as possible. There is a glimmer of hope in all this. After all, this is the state that elected Mitt Romney as governor.

Also, Martha Coakley is an extremely weak candidate who should be miles ahead of her Republican challenger yet she isn't. An endorsement by now governor Deval Patrick can't mean much since he's lost a lot of support due to his performance as governor since he was elected.

Paul Kirk, the Deval appointee currently representing MA in the senate until the election has already stated that even if Scott Brown wins the election he'll vote for the health care bill. Congress has also vowed to stall Brown's appointment to the senate so they have time to let Kirk do just that. Nothing like typical corruption in Washington in order to go against the will of the people.

We'll see how it all plays out 8 days from now when we go out to vote. Will we be the state that votes for the status quo and hands the health care nightmare bill to the entire country or will we remind this great country that this was the state of the original tea party?