Could Massachusetts Elect a Republican Senator?

A recent poll for the special U.S. Senate election on January 19 has Scott Brown down 50-41 among "likely voters" and Brown only down 2 percent among respondents who stated they would definitely vote.

Considering that in Massachusetts the Democrats have always won every statewide position (except Governor until 2006), usually by large margins, this poll must be a gut punch to the Democrats. For Senate races, the Democrat usually wins by approximately 65-70% to 30-35% (even a well-funded Mitt Romney only got 41% as a Senate candidate).

Why is Scott Brown doing so well? Well, a sinister idea is furthered by Ben Smith of Politico, that the Democrats nationally are rooting and hoping for a close race so that the Democrats can win and state that the Republican momentum is a myth. It is an idea with some supporting evidence behind it. The Boston Globe, normally the mouthpiece of the Democratic party in Massachusetts, has published articles critical of Coakley, stating that she went easy on a defendant in a 2005 case and was a poor performer before the US Supreme Court in a case Coakley lost that has made prosecution crime labs overburdened. Could the Globe be purposely trying to put the race closer on the idea that there is no way Massachusetts will elect a GOP man?

Here's hoping, if the Democrats are purposely trying to make the race closer, they overdo it and cause Coakley to lose. Coakley is a horrible candidate, and only won the primary because she was the only female. She is an awful speaker, unable to expand on anything beyond force-fed talking points, and clearly will be nothing more than an empty Democratic vote. Massachusetts could make Scott Brown a very dependable independent Senator, toning down his more right-wing views for the purpose of reelection.

Win or lose, at least the campaign commercials have gone way down since the primary ended.