BOSTON -- In an epic upset in liberal Massachusetts, Republican Scott Brown rode a wave of voter anger to defeat Democrat Martha Coakley in a U.S. Senate election Tuesday that left President Barack Obama's
The loss by the once-favored Coakley for the seat that the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy held for nearly half a century signaled big political problems for the president's party this fall when House, Senate and gubernatorial candidates are on the ballot nationwide. More immediately, Brown will become the 41st Republican in the 100-member Senate, which could allow the GOP to block the president's health care legislation and the rest of Obama's agenda. Democrats needed Coakley to win for a 60th vote to thwart Republican filibusters.Pulling off a feat that only a few weeks ago seemed all but impossible, a little-known Massachusetts Republican state senator has upended the state's entrenched Democratic party machine, claiming the U.S. Senate seat held by Ted Kennedy for 47 years and putting President Barak Obama's health care initiative in jeopardy.Millions of Massachusetts voters went to the polls in a special election Tuesday, electing Scott Brown, 50, to a post that has not been held by a Republican since Sen. Ed Brooke lost the seat in 1979, and rejecting the state's well-financed Attorney General Martha Coakley, 56, who for months had been expected to coast to an easy victory in the race.
With 80 percent of the returns in, Brown had 52 percent of the vote to Coakley's 47 percent just before 9:30 p.m."Scott Brown is the next United States senator," Brown's daughter Ayla howled to an ecstatic crowd at Brown's Boston campaign headquarters. "Let's celebrate, ya'll," the former American Idol contestant said before bursting into a rousing rendition of "Dancing in the Streets."
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