Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Late Senate Ted Kennedy's seat up for grabs

Follow up on Sam Kennedy's blog post (i saw it right after i read my article)
Republican Scott Brown and Democrat Martha Coakley are in a "pivotal" race for the Senate chair for Massachusetts. This race was supposed to be a landslide win for Coakley but due to "lackluster campaigning" she has now lost the lead in the race against Scott Brown. She also proved her lack of awareness when she stated that former Red Sox pitcher Curt Shilling is a Yankees fan, on a local radio interview. Obviously, that could only hurt her campaign.

The underdog Brown on the other hand has led a clever campaign depicting himself as the pick up driving candidate; who will appease the frustration of voters in the health care plan and he even vowed to send the "bill back to the drawing board". Brown has established that he is trying to win the seat for the people. Heading into the race he was seen as an underfunded and unknown candidate.
No Republican has won Mass' Senate chair since 1972 but this election might change that, with the final vote dependent on independents in the state.

This Democratic loss would cause them to lose the 60 seat majority in Senate, which would mean a loss of the ability to vote for a cloture on a filibuster.

This loss would be monumental for the Republicans and would greatly affect Obama's agenda, especially pertaining to the health care plan.
I found this article very interesting because of its importance to our president's agenda and it really pertains to the seperation of powers in our government and how necerssary it is for the president to have majority in Senate to successfully follow his agenda.
this article also led me onto another article , which shows the House's worry of not being able to pass a healthcare plan.
That article debates the passing of the unamended health care plan set forth by the Senate which is much more conservative than desired. i was just wondering what would do you think would be the best option for obama at the moment? Either pass a conservative bill or risk the chance of having a filibuster screw over the chances of a bill even being passed.

Tim co

3 comments:

William C said...

They lost! Hello filibusters and maybe goodbye Health Care Bill. This is saying something about general confidence in the Democrats, and possibly Obama, if this seat has been considered a safe Democrat seat in the past.

Unknown said...

wow that came out an hour past my post but wow yes definately it will be interesting to see what the future holds for obama's agenda

Andrew said...

Well, Brown won.

This is just getting interesting.

Republicans might, just might, have a chance to play catch up with the Democrats. They certainly need one too, with Palin in the midst. Democrats are finally in for some game. What's Obama's next move? So much to watch!

*kicks back and eats popcorn*