Republican Scott Brown Wins Senate Seat in Liberal Massachusetts

Today the state of Massachusetts held a special election that threatened to derail President Barack Obama's health care initiatives and squash the Democratic Party's majority in the Senate. It happened. Republican Scott Brown defeated Democrat Martha Coakley to claim the senate seat held by the late Ted Kennedy for the previous 46 years.

Browns victory in Massachusetts makes him the 41st Republican in the Senate, which means that the Democrats are no longer capable of stopping a GOP fillibuster. This throws a huge monkey wrench in to President Obama's agenda and the health care legislation currently pending in Congress.

Brown has said that he opposes the Democrats' health care reform which is currently working its way through Congress. Some Democrats are also citing Brown's win as a possible complication that could prevent the passage of other big ticket items, including regulatory reforms, a banking industry overhaul, and climate change legislation.

In a stump speech for Coakley in Boston on Sunday, President Obama acknowledged the importance of a Democratic win, stating that "a lot of these measures are going to rest on one vote in the U.S. Senate."

Others are also suggesting that the win has major implications for the future of the Democratic party and future elections, indicating that the citizenry is not as pleased with the President and newly elected Democrats as they'd like. Others say it could cost Obama another four years in office.

In Massachusetts, registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by more than three to one. The state has long been a bastion of the Democrat party and liberal ideals, having sent two Democratic senators to Washington D.C. for each of the past 31 years. The last time that a GOP senator was elected in Mass. was in November 1972 when Sen. Edward Brooke was victorious in winning the seat.