From the front line of this battle (I’m from MA), I’ll give you my observations.
This vote was not really a repudiation of Obama as much as it was a very poor politician going up against a seemingly very good one. Scott Brown looks like a normal guy, talks like a normal guy, has a visible family (daughter was on American Idol and made it quite far, wife is a local TV news reporter), and has the ability to connect with normal people. Conversely, Martha Coakley has a bad name (I mean bad as in “Martha Coakley”, which sounds like the kid you made fun of in 3rd grade), has an odd accent, is not very personable, and doesn’t seem to understand the value of personal connections. She comes off as aloof and perhaps a bit arrogant.
Most of the people I know voted for Scott Brown, not because they liked his stance on the various issues – in fact, the overwhelming majority could not tell you anything meaningful about the man or his positions; it seems to have been more of a general sense that he’s like one of us, and somehow Martha is not. Most people I talk to don’t have any clue about what the issues are regarding health care reform and financial reform. They just liked him better.
As for me, this was the first election of my adult life that I did not participate in. I’ve decided that to vote would be to endorse the bullshit system in it’s current form, and I’m simply unwilling to do that. Bring me a candidate that brings me real hope for change and maybe I’ll show up. But I’m not playing this fucking game anymore.
