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Mass. Race Could Tank Obama’s Plans For Health Care
By JOE MURRAY, The Bulletin
With feuding between House and Senate Democrats impeding the progress of ObamaCare, a Jan. 19 special election in Massachusetts could dash Barack Obama’s health-care hopes.
On Tuesday, Bay State voters will head to the polls to choose a successor to the late U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass. Mr. Kennedy, a long-time advocate of socialized medicine, made government-run health care a key platform of his legislative agenda in the years before his death. But with the country rejecting a government takeover of health care, Scott Brown, a Reagan Republican, is poised to win Mr. Kennedy’s Senate seat and break the Democratic 60 vote supermajority.
Mr. Brown is locked in a nail-biter election that pits him against Democrat Martha Coakley. Ms. Coakley, a longtime liberal, is Massachusetts Attorney General.
In a poll released this week by Public Policy Polling, Mr. Brown, with 48 percent of the vote, was narrowly ahead of Ms. Coakley by one percentage point.
Republicans credit the nation’s increasingly unfavorable view of Obamacare with Mr. Brown’s surge in the Bay State and are hoping a Massachusetts miracle give the Republican Party a burst of energy headlining into the 2010 mid-term elections.
“Something is brewing in Massachusetts and all over the country, and I have a prediction to make — for our cause, and for all those who speak for it with no apology — this will be our year,” former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney wrote in endorsing Mr. Brown.
“I know Scott and how determined he is to win. I've campaigned for him, raised money on his behalf, and we're doing all we can to help him over the finish line.”
The Coakley campaign, showing signs of distress, has placed a last minute S.O.S. to the White House indicating a desire for a visit by Mr. Obama. Mr. Brown, in the midst of a surge, made it clear the president does not have a place in Bay State politics.
“He should stay away and let Martha and I discuss the issues one on one,” Mr. Brown said. “The machine is coming out of the woodwork to get her elected. They’re bringing in outsiders, and we don’t need them.”
There is no doubt both Mr. Brown and Ms. Coakley have made healthcare the centerpiece of the special election. Ms. Coakley has accused Mr. Brown of seeking deprive healthcare to those in need, while Mr. Brown challenges the effectiveness of a healthcare plan that will cost taxpayers $1 trillion and cut Medicare by $500 billion.
“It’s disappointing that Martha Coakley is attempting to deceive voters with her demonstrably false statements on my health care record. We have sharply different views on the health care bill in Washington,” Mr. Brown said.
“Time and again, Martha has said she would be the 60th vote for a health care bill that will slash Medicare by a half-trillion dollars, raise taxes and increase spending. As the 41st Republican Senator, I would insist we start over on health care and craft a bipartisan bill that will lead to meaningful reform.”
Mr. Obama has made nationalized medicine a core aspect of his domestic agenda, but the president has failed to bridge gaps in his own party. Though the Senate and House passed their own different versions of Obamacare, House Democrats are advocating for an increasingly more liberal bill; a bill Senate Democrats say cannot pass.
With the Senate barely able to corral its 60 Democrats, a victory by Mr. Brown in Massachusetts would shattered Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s, D-Nev., supermajority and cripple Obamacare’s chances of passage.
“Electing Scott Brown to the U.S. Senate will promote freedom and help stop the government takeover of health care, which is why we’re making his candidacy a top priority,” said GOP 2012 presidential hopeful Tim Pawlenty.
Facing an embarrassing situation, the media and Massachusetts liberal establishment have attempted to create a narrative in which it is deemed immoral to elect Mr. Brown to replace Mr. Kennedy. Democrats claim it would disparage Mr. Kennedy’s legislative career. Mr. Brown, however, reminded Bay State voters just who the vacant Senate seat belongs to.
“It’s not the ‘Kennedy Seat, ’’ Mr. Brown said. “It’s the people’s seat.’’
But Massachusetts Democrats, anticipating defeat, have already indicated they will not seat Mr. Brown in time for him to impact the vote on Obamacare.
Massachusetts Secretary of State William F. Galvin has stated city and town clerks must wait 10 days for absentee ballots to certify the elections results. Towns would then have an additional five days to file the certification with Mr. Galvin’s office.
In 2007, when a Massachusetts Congressional election gave Democrats the vote needed to override a veto issued by Republican President George W. Bush, Mr. Galvin bypassed the provision he is now invoking. The political maneuvering has many Republicans crying foul.
"When I heard ... the machine, not only locally but nationally, is trying to manipulate the process and make sure that if I'm elected, a duly elected senator, I can't be seated in an effort to vote on this important piece of national legislation, it made me almost sick to my stomach," Mr. Brown told Fox News.
Such an accusation has some Democrats upset.
"That is the stupidest thing I've been asked in a long time. That is insane, the suggestion could only come from a demented right wing source," U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D – Mass., told the Washington Times. "There isn't the slightest possibility of it happening---a way of doing it. That is conspiracy theory at its most contemptible."
Mr. Reid’s office promised the winner of the special election would be certified promptly.
Joe Murray can be reached at jmurray@thebulletin.us
On Tuesday, Bay State voters will head to the polls to choose a successor to the late U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass. Mr. Kennedy, a long-time advocate of socialized medicine, made government-run health care a key platform of his legislative agenda in the years before his death. But with the country rejecting a government takeover of health care, Scott Brown, a Reagan Republican, is poised to win Mr. Kennedy’s Senate seat and break the Democratic 60 vote supermajority.
Mr. Brown is locked in a nail-biter election that pits him against Democrat Martha Coakley. Ms. Coakley, a longtime liberal, is Massachusetts Attorney General.
In a poll released this week by Public Policy Polling, Mr. Brown, with 48 percent of the vote, was narrowly ahead of Ms. Coakley by one percentage point.
Republicans credit the nation’s increasingly unfavorable view of Obamacare with Mr. Brown’s surge in the Bay State and are hoping a Massachusetts miracle give the Republican Party a burst of energy headlining into the 2010 mid-term elections.
“Something is brewing in Massachusetts and all over the country, and I have a prediction to make — for our cause, and for all those who speak for it with no apology — this will be our year,” former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney wrote in endorsing Mr. Brown.
“I know Scott and how determined he is to win. I've campaigned for him, raised money on his behalf, and we're doing all we can to help him over the finish line.”
The Coakley campaign, showing signs of distress, has placed a last minute S.O.S. to the White House indicating a desire for a visit by Mr. Obama. Mr. Brown, in the midst of a surge, made it clear the president does not have a place in Bay State politics.
“He should stay away and let Martha and I discuss the issues one on one,” Mr. Brown said. “The machine is coming out of the woodwork to get her elected. They’re bringing in outsiders, and we don’t need them.”
There is no doubt both Mr. Brown and Ms. Coakley have made healthcare the centerpiece of the special election. Ms. Coakley has accused Mr. Brown of seeking deprive healthcare to those in need, while Mr. Brown challenges the effectiveness of a healthcare plan that will cost taxpayers $1 trillion and cut Medicare by $500 billion.
“It’s disappointing that Martha Coakley is attempting to deceive voters with her demonstrably false statements on my health care record. We have sharply different views on the health care bill in Washington,” Mr. Brown said.
“Time and again, Martha has said she would be the 60th vote for a health care bill that will slash Medicare by a half-trillion dollars, raise taxes and increase spending. As the 41st Republican Senator, I would insist we start over on health care and craft a bipartisan bill that will lead to meaningful reform.”
Mr. Obama has made nationalized medicine a core aspect of his domestic agenda, but the president has failed to bridge gaps in his own party. Though the Senate and House passed their own different versions of Obamacare, House Democrats are advocating for an increasingly more liberal bill; a bill Senate Democrats say cannot pass.
With the Senate barely able to corral its 60 Democrats, a victory by Mr. Brown in Massachusetts would shattered Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s, D-Nev., supermajority and cripple Obamacare’s chances of passage.
“Electing Scott Brown to the U.S. Senate will promote freedom and help stop the government takeover of health care, which is why we’re making his candidacy a top priority,” said GOP 2012 presidential hopeful Tim Pawlenty.
Facing an embarrassing situation, the media and Massachusetts liberal establishment have attempted to create a narrative in which it is deemed immoral to elect Mr. Brown to replace Mr. Kennedy. Democrats claim it would disparage Mr. Kennedy’s legislative career. Mr. Brown, however, reminded Bay State voters just who the vacant Senate seat belongs to.
“It’s not the ‘Kennedy Seat, ’’ Mr. Brown said. “It’s the people’s seat.’’
But Massachusetts Democrats, anticipating defeat, have already indicated they will not seat Mr. Brown in time for him to impact the vote on Obamacare.
Massachusetts Secretary of State William F. Galvin has stated city and town clerks must wait 10 days for absentee ballots to certify the elections results. Towns would then have an additional five days to file the certification with Mr. Galvin’s office.
In 2007, when a Massachusetts Congressional election gave Democrats the vote needed to override a veto issued by Republican President George W. Bush, Mr. Galvin bypassed the provision he is now invoking. The political maneuvering has many Republicans crying foul.
"When I heard ... the machine, not only locally but nationally, is trying to manipulate the process and make sure that if I'm elected, a duly elected senator, I can't be seated in an effort to vote on this important piece of national legislation, it made me almost sick to my stomach," Mr. Brown told Fox News.
Such an accusation has some Democrats upset.
"That is the stupidest thing I've been asked in a long time. That is insane, the suggestion could only come from a demented right wing source," U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D – Mass., told the Washington Times. "There isn't the slightest possibility of it happening---a way of doing it. That is conspiracy theory at its most contemptible."
Mr. Reid’s office promised the winner of the special election would be certified promptly.
Joe Murray can be reached at jmurray@thebulletin.us
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