San Antonio Conservative

We are less than three hours away from the closing of polls all across Massachusetts, and the election of new United States Senator for the Commonwealth. For sure there is plenty of excitement among Republicans and conservatives about the possibility of the election of State Senator Scott Brown to fill a seat that was held by the late Senator Edward Kennedy. In the bluest of blue states, where Democrats far outnumber Republicans, a Republican has a CHANCE. Some have told me that there is no way Scott Brown wins tonight … thats simply because it hasn’t happened in a LONG TIME. In fact WRKO in Boston back in November, made it seem that it was a foregone conclusion that State Attorney General Martha Coakley would win, just listen to this audio clip:

Now, it is really only the first sound bite that puts WRKO’s coverage of the race in question. The succeeding clips sound a bit more reasonable and more like a discussion of simply a primary win. To be honest, while I have been hopeful for a GOP win in Mass., I knew it would be hard to come to fruition and likely would never happen. I can not explain how excited I am that the polls show that people are choosing to vote for something more meaningful than party, they are choosing to vote for the future of America and not for a quick political victory. Tonight, I believe that Scott Brown will become the Junior Senator from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Yet, even if the people of Massachusetts elect him, Brown will face shenanigans from Democrats in the Senate. I mean, seriously? Who could possibly imagine the dog and pony show that this situation would turn into. The excuses that Democratic leaders have thrown out there are ridiculous. Hot Air is reporting that the latest excuse for not seating Brown should he win is that Vice President Joe Biden is out of town (HERE). Yet before it was because the Senate would need to wait for the proper certification. Which is essentially true, Brown would need to have the election results certified and a signature of the Massachusetts Secretary of State to serve. But will the Secretary of State promptly certify the election, or will the SOS drag their feet? This was the same standard that was posed when Senator Roland Burris (D-IL) was appointed by Governor Blago in Illinois. However, this does not mean that interim Sen. Kirk would be necessarily able to vote on any healthcare bill (or any other bill for that matter). An interpretation of the current Massachusetts law (which was changed to allow Governor Deval Patrick to appoint a interim, which was a power that was stripped of Republican Gov. Mitt Romney in 2004) would suggest that once the election has taken place and the results are in, interim Sen. Kirk would no longer serve in the capacity of a US Senator.

But even if Brown is allowed to assume his role in the Senate, should he win. Democrats still have the intention of shoving healthcare reform (which in its current form is something that the American people disagree with, while supporting the idea of overall healthcare reform) down the throats of the American people and putting it on President Obama’s desk. They have two options. One option being, forcing the House into a corner and passing the Senate bill, as-is. This presents a problem in that many House Democrats do not support the Senate bill in its current version. The other option for Congressional Democrats is to go through a reconciliation process (reserved normally for budgetary legislation) that only requires 51 votes in the Senate. The problem here is that they would need to strip several provisions in the bill and gut it to a bare bones skeleton version that involves only budgetary provisions and changes. Either way the healthcare issue is still toxic in the political arena. Perhaps, with a Brown win, Democrats might be better served by holding off.

Regardless of the outcome tonight, there will certainly be interesting political issues that arise out of whomever is named the winner. I can tell you one thing. I will be glued to my TV and computer screens to see the results and begin to examine what the turnout means for future races. Because even if Coakley wins (which to me it’s hard to see that happening when registered Dems in Mass are waiting in line for more than two hours in some cases to vote for a REPUBLICAN!) the fact that the Democratic machine had to pour resources and money into a solidly blue state speaks volumes.

Check back for my post-election post TONIGHT (or TOMORROW if we don’t get a winner tonight). Should be interesting no matter what.

- Andres Bocanegra

Follow me on Twitter: @andresbocanegra