# Silver linings from the MA Senate race **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 21, 2010, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silver-linings-from-the-ma-senate-race/525813 "2010-01-21T06:34:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silver-linings-from-the-ma-senate-race/525813/21 "2010-01-21T15:56:45Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > Or > > 1. They think the plan works in MA and don’t want to risk paying more in taxes for a national health care plan that won’t benefit them. And one that Senators in other states got all kind of goodies for while MA was left with coal. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silver-linings-from-the-ma-senate-race/525813/22 "2010-01-21T21:56:54Z")
Whenever discussing this special election, do **not** overlook the importance of the stupendously incompetent race run by Coakley. She managed to blow a (by early polls) 30-point lead to a relative nobody whose campaign ran circles around hers. Seriously, there were plenty of other issues involved in the debacle, but had Mike Capuano been the nominee he’d have fought a lot harder and might have pulled off the win despite the other factors affecting the race. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silver-linings-from-the-ma-senate-race/525813/23 "2010-01-21T22:00:41Z")
And I think Capuano would have been far more effective in the Senate than the overcautious Coakley would have been, too. Which is why I voted for him, despite his lamentable lack of either brown skin or tits. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silver-linings-from-the-ma-senate-race/525813/24 "2010-01-21T22:12:33Z")
Well, **ElvisL1ves** , you and I have disagreed on a number of points over time, but not on Capuano. He’d have made a helluva good senator for Massachusetts. I hope he decides to go for it when Teddy’s term is up so I can vote for him again. ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silver-linings-from-the-ma-senate-race/525813/25 "2010-01-22T01:00:27Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > Well, **ElvisL1ves** , you and I have disagreed on a number of points over time, but not on Capuano. He’d have made a helluva good senator for Massachusetts. I hope he decides to go for it when Teddy’s term is up so I can vote for him again. Yeah, if we’re looking for silver linings, I’ll count the fact that since it was a special election, Capuano didn’t have to give up his House seat to campaign. I’ll also recall that back in '03 or '04, Scott Brown was elected to the state Senate in a special election when Cheryl Jacques left office to be the head of the Human Rights Campaign, and his election was seen as a backlash against the legalization of same-sex marriage. That backlash dried up after getting Brown into office, and the pro-marriage equality side racked up an overwhelming number of victories in legislative races. So I’m hoping history repeats itself with the backlash against healthcare reform. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2010, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silver-linings-from-the-ma-senate-race/525813/26 "2010-01-24T03:56:14Z")
> [@](#): > > –If Brown wants to keep his job, he’s going to have to please a constituency in Massachusetts, which despite all this remains fairly liberal. He’s going to have to live up to that whole “independent” thing he pushed so hard instead of walking in lock-step with the GOP leadership. It’s still going to be a net movement to the right, of course, but if one person breaks rank every now and then others might follow. I’m not so sure he does want to keep his job, though. His term will expire in 2012, just in time for him to step down to pursue the Presidency. That way, he capitalizes on his being thrust into the national spotlight by this election, without having to risk losing face by being defeated for re-election. And you can’t exactly argue that two years in the Senate is insufficient experience for the Presidency, when he’s running against Obama. Meanwhile, freed from the pressure for getting re-elected to his Senate seat, he can use his time in the Senate to do whatever he thinks will position him best on the national stage. Mind you, I’m not saying I _want_ this to happen, but it makes a lot of sense politically. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silver-linings-from-the-ma-senate-race/525813.md?page=1)