On the election of Mr. Brown

There has been much said about the recent election of Mr. Brown.  Most often 'nattering class' views brown selection as either or both an unexpected upset or a refutation of president Obama.

It was neither.

First, it should be noted, that Ms. Coakley was and is not well regarded in Massachusetts.  Even for a democrat Ms. Coakley was not an attractive candidate.  Additionally, she treated her candidacy as something of a coronation on the belief that this was, after all, a democratic senate seat.  As Mr. Brown noted in his campaign this senate seat was not Ed Kennedys seat, nor was it a democratic seat, it was and is one of two Massachusetts senate seats.  Candidates for public office treat elections as coronations at their own peril as Ms. Clinton and now Ms. Coakley have learned.  Finally, Ms. Coakley is campaign, if you could call it that, was at best lackluster and much more probably offensive.  Most of her late campaign advertisements amounted to little more than "I've done lots of good stuff and the other guy is evil." This, I believe, was wrongheaded to the point of stupidity when seen through the eyes of an electorate that regards politics as usual as both offensive and evil.  Rather than campaign on issues Miss Coakley, not well regarded in Massachusetts, chose to campaign on personalities and lost.

Second, I believe, that assertions that Mr. Brown's election is a republican victory and some sort of referendum on president Obama's presidency are entirely wrong headed.  While it is true that Mr. Brown is a republican he was elected in large part because Ms. Coakley, a democrat, ran a monumentally inept campaign.  It should be noted that roughly 50,000 votes would have changed the election results.

In the matter of republican v. democrat it is worth noting that a slight majority of Massachusetts voters are independents.  The state is generally socially liberal and fiscally conservative.  It is neither a red or a blue state.  I believe much of the country is centrist.  One need only consider the remarkable frequency with which political power passes between democrats and republicans to realize this.  At a time when voters are disgusted by the masinations of Congress independent voters when offered a choice between a candidate of the politics of the usual and one who offered at least the hope of change chose the latter.  This is not a republican victory.  It is rather a message to both political parties that centrist politics is what the country wants.

Finally, I believe, that this election result is not a referendum on health care notwithstanding Mr. Brown's opposition to the current bills in Congress.  As I have noted elsewhere while the current proposals address some important issues in health insurance they do not, in my view, address health care.  While I do not agree with Mr. Brown's position in this matter it has realistic and rational.

While the nattering class will doubtless continue to natter on, common sense suggests that a poor candidate who ran a poor campaign in an environment dominated by disaffected independent voters lost.