Pro-Marriage GOP Candidate Wins in Massachusetts

Concerned Women for America ^ | 03/04/04 | Robert Knight

[coffeebreak]

Republican Scott Brown, whose opponent labeled him a “right-wing extremist,” won a special state senate election in Massachusetts on Tuesday. Brown beat Angus McQuilken, who was chief of staff to former state Senator Cheryl Jacques, who now heads the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest homosexual pressure group.

[coffeebreak]

One small step in the right direction.

[BikePacker]

Poor Angus... he's a 350lb 34 y.o. who has never held a private job.

[Always Right]

One small step in the right direction.

If small steps can be taken in Massachusetts, huge steps can be taken elsewhere.

[goldstategop]

A safe Democratic district I might add. But it doesn't add up to a trend. Kerry will carry Massachusetts in November.

[My2Cents]

Poor Angus... he's a 350lb 34 y.o. who has never held a private job.

Appropriate name, "Angus." Named after a breed of cattle.

[MegaSilver]

If small steps can be taken in Massachusetts, huge steps can be taken elsewhere.

You're right.

I feel like I'm not doing enough, though. I would definitely start a PAC, but I'm afraid the demands of ROTC and the army will render me pretty much booked for the next 7 1/2 to 8 years.

[DM1]

Yes Kerry will win Mass but i believe some local elections in the house and senate may go R mainly due to the marriage issue. Of course it will not be enough to flip control but any erosion of Dem strength in Mass is good. I also take heart that this election was held during the Dem primary and they still went Repub. ha

[swarthyguy]

Supports my hypothesis, that this issue is one where many many people will say one thing (lukewarm halfhearted support for GM in order not to look "mean") and do another in the privacy of the voting booth.

[HostileTerritory]

It's by no means a safe Democratic district. The district includes new suburbs and wealthy older suburbs. It votes more Republican than the state as a whole based on gubernatorial elections. Romney swept the towns in this district with about 60% of the vote even though the statewide totals were close.

This election is a step in the right direction, but people have been misrepresenting the nature of the district because it voted for Gore (like every other part of this benighted state.) It is an accomplishment that Brown won on a day when all the 'RATs were out voting in their primary, but the district itself is a good Republican district for state politics. This election means that we may win some more suburban seats for the Pubbies this fall, but only a few, and it will be very hard if we go up against incumbents. None of the real Democratic seats in the legislature are threatened.

[shhrubbery!]

Great news! Maybe there is hope for Taxachusetts after all.

[goldstategop]

It reminds me of the old joke they couldn't find enough Republicans in Massachusetts to fill a closet room.

[Mears]

I've met Scott Brown and he is a very classy guy.

His win is a refreshing change in Massachusetts,may it continue.

[HostileTerritory]

It really is sad. But I think if Romney can pick up a significant number of seats in the legislature, he can have more influence on policy, even if actual control of the legislature is not likely in my lifetime.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Kerry will carry Massachusetts in November.

Prolly, but he has more enemies here than anywhere. BTW, this election was rigged. Not only was it a safely gerrymandered White Democratic district, the election was scheduled on the same day as the primary. Since W. was unopposed, this meant that a much higher Democratic turn out was expected.

The scheduling was unusual in that the election was announced before the vacancy occurred. The incumbent announced her intention of resigning one day into the legislative session to fatten her pension. There is no authority to schedule an election based on someones announced intentions, it can only be scheduled when a vacancy occurs, which given the statutory time between announcement and the election means that would have been after the primary. The Democratic Secretary of State supported by the MA supreme court simply ran roughshod over the law, quelle suprise , as John Kerry would say.

Support for Kerry in Massachusetts is at best tepid. I wouldn't be surprised if Mitt couldn't beat him.

[HostileTerritory]

Not only was it a safely gerrymandered White Democratic district

I'm really curious why you think that... where do you live? I work in Needham and I know what this area is like, and I don't get it when people say things like that. The district went big for Romney. You don't need gerrymandering to elect Democrats in this state.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

A senatorial district meandering from Wayland to Attleboro is clearly a gerrymander (hard G). You sprinkle in a little Sherborne and Wellesley to dilute Republican votes but make sure that all the Black votes stay concentrated in the Colored districts.

[goldstategop]

The fact the Democrats felt the need to gerrymander at all shows how much times have changed. And to top it off, if Kerry should be elected, they want to prevent Romney from appointing a GOP Senator. Democrats may still control Beacon Hill but they don't have the unchallenged absolute control there they had 20 years ago. And for 16 of those years the Bay State has had Republican Governors. The most liberal state in America is still liberal but not quite as Deep Blue as it used to be.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Boxborough.

[HostileTerritory]

Well, but, there really isn't a need for racial gerrymandering in 90% of Massachusetts. Voting isn't polarized by race here. Most white voters vote Democratic, and there are very few black voters, and any communities with significant power are concentrated in parts of Boston and in Springfield. The effects of racial gerrymandering don't make it far past those city boundaries as we've seen with the Finneran/Malia case.

You can see the district and its neighbors here: http://tinyurl.com/2l5e8 and to the best of my knowledge none of them have any Black populations. The districts are long and narrow, which is strange, but I don't see a partisan reason for it. When I look at the other towns in nearby districts I see more of the same.

I think it would be possible to gerrymander one safe Republican district in the area and three safe Democratic districts, but what we have now are some suburban districts that lean Republican, and we just won one of them back. Jacques was the only Democrat to represent it and she was sort of a fluke. A coworker of mine with deep family routes in Needham and good 'RAT political ties said that this district was designed to be a Republican reservation and they put Needham into it to keep Needham out of the nearby 'RAT districts. So the pols were shocked when a Democrat emerged from Needham with the right profile to win--it was supposed to be one of the more Republican areas.

[HostileTerritory]

I read in the Globe that Romney's targeting the senator from Acton in this fall's election... have you heard anything?