WOBURN, Mass. – Sitting in my room at the Red Roof Inn, after a day of covering the Massachusetts Senate campaign in the city of Lawrence, it is interesting to watch the excitement surrounding the campaign of Republican Scott Brown, who won the seat, formerly held by the late Sen. Ted Kennedy.

“I’m ready to go to Washington without delay!” declared U.S. Senator-elect Brown at his victory speech Tuesday night.

It’s really quite remarkable that he beat Martha Coakley, the Democrat that everyone expected to win, at least early on. One wonders what this means for the fall elections. Brown has his work cut out for him. It’s going to be more than one-liners about his pickup truck or the fact that his daughter is “available.” Brown is really going to have to roll up his sleeves and prove that he’s the man for the job.

And getting to cover the final days and hours of the race while on the ground in Lawrence, Mass. was a tremendous opportunity. The electorate, tired of the Democrats and their policies, have spoken in the Bay State. I think of Lawrence school teacher Diane MacDonald who boldly told this reporter that she was going to vote for Scott Brown despite pressure from her teacher’s union. Or Karen Elwell, the registered Democrat who told Oklahoma Watchdog that she was voting for Brown, particularly because Coakley, she felt, would be soft on terrorism.

UPDATE: It’s Wednesday January 20, 2010. The reality of Scott Brown winning in Massachusetts is about all the pundits and pollsters can talk about today. Although much of my day was spent traveling from Boston to Oklahoma City, reading the Boston Globe, USA Today and the Wall Street Journal gave me an overview of the coverage and commentary going on in the print media. The Globe cartoonist featured a Republican elephant in a suit looking sinister as he dunked a teabag (featuring a picture of President Obama) into a cup of tea. Very appropriate.

And literally as I got home this afternoon, I called into a National Republican Congressional Committee conference call featuring Neil Newhouse, a pollster for the Brown campaign.

Newhouse said it was clear that the tide had turned in Brown’s favor when Brown raise $13 million in 13 days – $1 million a day. And Brown’s favorability numbers kept going up while Coakley’s went down.

“This feels a heck of a lot like ’94,” added Newhouse.

Forty seats in Congress could potentially go to Republicans in the fall, Newhouse said.

“If we can do this in Massachusetts, get them to rally to his viewpoint, then we can do this in Kentucky, in Ohio, in Pennsylvania, in Kansas … Republicans are extraordinarily well positioned,” Newhouse said.

Oklahoma Watchdog will continue to monitor the political scene as we pick up the pace heading into the fall.

By Andrew W. Griffin

Oklahoma Watchdog, editor

Posted: January 19, 2010

andrew@oklahomawatchdog.org

Copyright 2010 Oklahoma Watchdog