The Democrats' Gettysburg

As I explained on my website ( http://www.nexusofpower.com/about.htm), the Massachusetts special election is the Nexus of Power in Washington. It will determine the fate of the Democrats’ sixtieth seat in the Senate – the one they need to stop Republican filibusters and realize their dreams of looting manufacturers, enslaving doctors, and outlawing the Big Mac.

In addition to the potential to restore checks and balances to Washington in January, this race has profound implications for the election in November, when the nation will decide the fate of 35 Senators and 435 Representatives.

Massachusetts is, in John Keller’s phrase, the bluest state. According to the Gallup poll, the percentage of Bay State residents who are “Democrat” or “Lean Democrat” is higher than any other state in the Union. Its Congressional delegation of 2 Senators and 10 Representatives does not include a single Republican. The voters sent the country’s most famous liberal, Ted Kennedy to the Senate nine times.

The Commonwealth’s solid Democrat creds make Scott Brown’s campaign an uphill battle. But they also would make a Brown victory that much more game-changing. After last month’s loss of Governor’s mansions in New Jersey (another blue state) and Virginia (a swing state), the loss of Ted Kennedy’s seat, which was supposed to be solidly Democratic, would demoralize the Dems and put them on the defensive going into November, while energizing the GOP. I can see the post-election press conferences now: a pissed-off Barney Frank spitting into the microphone and a deer-in-the-headlights Nancy Pelosi renewing her attacks on Brooks Brothers.

In 1863, the battle of Gettysburg marked the high-water mark of the Confederacy. The rebels had never advanced as far North as that town in Southern Pennsylvania. After being turned back by the Union armies, they never would again. We have an opportunity in January to turn back the Democrat advance into the Senate. It can be the Democrats’ Gettysburg.