- The Loft - http://www.gopusa.com/theloft -

Brown's win stuns Coakley, Obama. What does it mean?

Posted By Bobby Eberle On January 20, 2010 at 9:11 am

He did it! Massachusetts State Sen. Scott Brown did what no one thought possible. On Tuesday night, Brown defeated Democrat opponent Martha Coakley to win the special election for the Senate seat formerly held by the late Ted Kennedy.

The victory was not only a nuclear bomb blast to the perfect, government-controlled world envisioned by Barack Obama, Harry Reid, and Nancy Pelosi, but it was also a wake-up call to the Republican Party. Brown's campaign was a blueprint in a "blue" state. It's a blueprint that, if followed, could lead to dramatic victories in 2010 and beyond.


The Senate race was supposedly a slam dunk for the Democrats. Martha Coakley was a shoo-in for the seat in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans three to one. However, when the dust settled, Brown was the winner with 52% of the vote to Coakley's 47%. Brown pulled in 1,168,107 votes to 1,058,682 for Coakley.



During his acceptance speech, Brown made a number of statements which summarized his campaign, the mood of the Massachusetts voters, the mood of Americans across the country, and reasons why Obama and his left-wing radicals should be scared:

"I'll bet they can hear all this cheering down in Washington, D.C. And I hope they're paying close attention, because tonight the independent voice of Massachusetts has spoken."
"I will remember that while the honor is mine, this Senate seat belongs to no one person and no political party - and as I have said before, and you said loud and clear today, it is the people's seat."
"When I first started running, I asked for a lot of help, because I knew it was going to be me against the machine. I was wrong, it was all of us against the machine. And after tonight we have shown everyone that - now - you are the machine."
"We had the machine scared and scrambling, and for them it is just the beginning of an election year filled with surprises. They will be challenged again and again across this country. When there's trouble in Massachusetts, there's trouble everywhere - and now they know it."
"In every corner of our state, I met with people, looked them in the eye, shook their hand, and asked them for their vote. I didn't worry about their party affiliation, and they didn't worry about mine. It was simply shared conviction that brought us all together."
The above quotes are just a sampling, but they point to two strong messages that must not be ignored if conservatives and the Republican Party want to score more victories.

Point #1 -- Us Against the machine

Brown struck a note with voters by signaling that he is "one of them." That the real opponent was not Martha Coakley but rather the political machine that is Washington, DC. But it is more than that. The "machine" also refers to political parties, Republican or Democrat, when they try to subvert the will of the people to get their pet issue passed, their candidate anointed, or keep the perks in place. The American people are sick and tired of it. This is a bottom up country, not top down. A revolution was fought on that very principle, and it is part of the very fabric of our nation.
Point #2 -- Putting People First

While the media referred to the Senate seat as "Ted Kennedy's seat," Brown saw things more clearly. It is the "people's seat." American's don't want socialism. They don't want an all-mighty government. They want the America that has become the most powerful and most generous in the world. Putting people first does NOT mean having a central government that does everything FOR the people by taking money and power away from them to distribute to the programs, causes, people, and jobs that the "government" says are worthy. Putting people first means adhering to the notion that this is a FREE country with Americans free to pursue the American dream without being penalized for it. Putting people first means respecting the role of government and limiting it to the core functions for which it was created. The American people can do the rest.
As Scott Rasmussen notes in his report on the election, "Brown pulled off the upset in large part because he won unaffiliated voters by a 73% to 25% margin. The senator-elect also picked up 23% of the vote from Democrats."

Congratulations to Scott Brown. He ran on a simple, conservative platform. Though he distanced himself from the party machine, he did not distance himself from conservatism. The Issues page on his web site is a clear embrace of low taxes, free enterprise, no ObamaCare, no amnesty, and putting people first, not government. If that's not a blueprint for success, I don't know what is.