The Boston Surprise!

What a stunner! Tuesday’s election was just that. Who would have thought that the political course of this nation could have shaken to its very core by a Massachusetts Senatorial election? But it looks like Republican Scott Brown’s convincing victory over Democrat Martha Coakley has had that much of an effect.

The shocker began early in the evening, even before polls closed. Exit polling revealed voters, in a major break with tradition, were close to electing a republican to a Senate seat held for more than 50 years by democrats. After the polls closed, early results indicated a 53-47 split in favor of Brown. As more vote counts continued to come in, the margin remained unchanged and not much later – surprise! Coakley was already on the phone to Brown, conceding the election. In fact, Coakley later gave one of the classiest concession speeches I’ve ever heard. And Brown graciously responded in kind. To all observers, it was an amazing progression of events. Most expected the election to be close and a few were predicting a slim win for Brown, but no one expected it to be as decisive as this.

What are the implications? Democrats no longer have a 60-vote, filibuster-proof, stranglehold majority in the Senate. Their only option now - other than limited use of the 51-vote “nuclear option” to force through certain bills - will be to “reach across the aisle” and actually work with their Republican colleagues, rather than continue excluding them from every step of the process. The era of closed-door, back-room negotiations is over. If democrats want to save their version of health care reform, they’ll need to reconcile and pass it prior to Brown’s being seated. It’ll be interesting to observe how Congress proceeds in this respect.

Moreover, in the lead-up to 2010’s and 2012’s elections, this victory will force Obama to abandon his determined progressive agenda of “change” and make a major course correction toward the center. If he doesn’t, he’ll wind up being a one-term president.

What a difference a night makes!