Coakley v. Brown, and Democracy In The Senate

Have you been following the special election in Massachusetts to replace Ted Kennedy in the Senate? It has become something of a flashpoint in the last couple of weeks, with Republicans trumpeting their candidate, Scott Brown, as having a better-than-usual chance to win in Democratic Massachusetts, and thus destroy health care reform. My personal feeling is that the whole thing is a lot of wishful thinking from people who live in an echo chamber where the whole world is one big “Tea Party” movement ready to “take back America,” and that Martha Coakley, the Democratic nominee, is going to win no matter what, but special elections are notoriously hard to call and Coakley has run an absolutely awful campaign, so I could be wrong. You never know! Anyway, Gail Collins, who has been completely energized over the last six months, takes a look at the race today and includes a great rant about the super-majority in the Senate that is well worth your time.