The political world is abuzz with stories of Republican ascendancy. Scott Brown’s come-from-behind victory in Massachusetts gives these stories considerable weight. Forgotten, it seems, is the Democratic victory in historically-Red up-state New York. And perhaps it should be. Both of these elections are single data-points (and small ones at that) along a trendline spanning decades in which the switching of a single seat by itself is almost meaningless.
The Scott Brown Problem
Yes, the Democratic Party no longer has a nominal super-majority in the Senate, but, let’s be frank, the party wasn’t doing anything with it anyway. Red-state senators like Ben Nelson, Mary Landrieu and Blanche Lincoln, and bat-shit crazy senators like Joe Lieberman made sure that the Democratic Party could never capitalize on it’s numbers. The recent election in Massachusetts has only functioned to quell unrealistic expectations. Continue reading…