The Massachusetts Stunner: What a Difference a Vote Makes

Voters in Massachusetts didn’t just give President Obama and ruling Democrats a harsh setback by choosing to send Republican Scott Brown to the Senate. They gave legitimacy to populist conservative discontent and quite likely changed the course of health care and Wall Street reforms.

Tuesday’s election of Brown, who until the past week was known nationally more for a 1982 Cosmo photo shoot than for his political philosophy, breaks the Democrats’ 60-vote hold over the Senate. With Brown in the Senate—in liberal icon Ted Kennedy’s seat no less—Republicans gain the power to put a serious crimp in Obama’s legislative agenda.

The real loser Tuesday wasn’t Martha Coakley, the Massachusetts attorney general, but Obama. The president, one year into the job, didn’t seem to wake up to the campaign until this past weekend—and by that point, the momentum toward Brown was undeniable. Plus, as Kent Hoover noted in a Capital post on Monday, Obama test-drove an anti-big-business campaign strategy the White House plans to use in this year’s midterm elections.

Judging by the results, Brown’s anti-big-government message won out over the big-business attacks. Establishment Republicans and tea-partiers alike will rejoice. The Obama camp will have to adjust its message to make sure Democrats stay in power after November.

But first they’ll have to learn to live with one more Republican in the Capitol.