For Massachusetts, Brown is pretty conservative. Small town roots, National Guard, deployed in Afghanistan, voted for a local cap and trade bill but later apologized for his vote, opposed same-sex marriage, and was publicly attacked for his opposition but didn't back down.
Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, Michigan, Nebraska and a host of other states can't boast of having a senator that conservative. I'd say this is a huge move for Massachusetts.
If the administration and Democrat leaders persist in seeing this as a Massachusetts quirk, they're going to get a shellacking in November. MA hasn't elected a Republican to congress since 1973. It was the only state McGovern won. If a population that liberal rejects Obamacare, cap and trade, and other Obama initiatives, what will the rest of the country do?
Chris Matthews, Olberman, the NY Times, WA Post, LA Times and other elitist mouthpieces can be in denial all they want, but it would appear that the American people will accept a certain amount of socialism, and perhaps only the amount that we have now.
The American people rejected nationalized health care in 1994. They're rejecting it now. No matter what proponents call it, or how they try to package it, Americans don't want it, and they don't want anyone shoving it down their throats.
I've been really frightened about the direction the country has been moving the last twelve months. This election gives me hope, and not the Obama kind of "hope."