The Daily Background

Hopefully little or nothing.

The AP just called the special election in Massachusetts about a minute ago and Coakley (D) has just conceded. Well, that was pathetic, no matter what the final tally turns out to be. Unbelievably pathetic. A Republican won Ted Kennedy’s seat in the bluest state in the country by campaigning against the president. See the Jon Stewart video I posted earlier tonight on the patheticness of this loss.

There are some reports that Coakley was an awful candidate. Whatever. Time to move on. Health care reform will pass with or without a Senator Brown being seated. The only question is now, will the House pass the Senate bill verbatim thus eschewing the need for another Senate vote, or will the two chambers conference (either regularly or ping pong), merge their bills and move through the Senate through reconciliation. Another option would be if the two chambers could pass something really quick before Brown is seated. Yet another option would be to kill the filibuster altogether through a change of Senate rules

Of course, no matter what happens, the Republicans are going to cry foul and say that the Democrats did this or that to shove health care reform down America’s throat. But they were going to say that even if Coakley had won, so this shouldn’t make anyone nervous or surprised. The truth is, it’s been Senate Republicans who have abused the system, turning what should have been an simple majority-rules vote into a drawn-out drama requiring a super-majority. Democrats need to start campaigning for the midterms starting today on a platform that outs these obstructionists as what they are– enemies of democracy who love nothing more than to preserve the status quo and bind us in a tyranny of the minority.

Filed under: Z-TDB Blog