In any case, I don't think that it is the internal carping.

It is the fact that when I am sitting across the dinner table with a Republican doctor who asks me why this Congress can't pass single payer, I can't say that they even tried.  When he asks me why they are taking such a convoluted and confusing approach, I can't say that it was anybody's fault but their own.  When he asks me why the Democratic Party is playing to the interests of insurers and pharma, I can't say they aren't.

Will anyone seriously propose that Massachusetts - one of the bluest states in the nation - has, over the last year, undergone some sort of, um, transformative move to the right, and decide that the answer to the loss will be to (continue to) move Dems to the right?

Will they look at Dem turnout and see that the reason Brown won was that Dems stayed home and make some attempts to ask the voters why?  Will they listen to the Dem voters who tell them that Coakley changing her position on abortion-related components of health care reform was a deal-breaker for them?  And that Coakley's change of what appeared to be long-standing support for abortion rights proved to the voters that Coakley was like every other Dem who has courted the vote only to abandon the voters?

The media will spin it as utter doom for the Democrats, which may be what the Dems need to wake up and smell the disgust many of us are feeling.  

Or not.

Here's the thing: I live in the country, and we have more deer in the area than you can believe.  Dusk and dawn are the worst times to encounter deer on the move, so caution has to be taken when driving the country roads.  Deer are not the brightest members of the animal kingdom, and what makes them so dangerous is that, invariably, when they are poised at the side of a road, they will choose to jump toward the road - and oncoming traffic - instead of away from the road.

The Coakley campaign is scared.  Their internal polling is bad, their press is bad, and their field operations have been pretty bad.

I know a number of people working there and they are in freak out mode.

What are you doing to help Coakley Win in Mass?

Donating: 34%    228 votes
Phone Banking: 14%    92 votes
Knocking on doors: 1%    7 votes
Nothing cause I don't give a damn, democrats deserve to lose: 49%    326 votes

The "blame the left flank" crew, after brow beating all the whiners, were proclaiming the hostile takeover of dKos by the teabaggers complete.

If it wasn't so terrible and disliked by a wide majority this race wouldn't be close.

Whether or not it's needed is a separate issue.  On that issue the country is slightly in democrats favor.

But the bill, the deals, the broken promises are just easy pickings for someone like Brown and he's riding that outrage to a lead.

Throw in a general downturn in the core democratic message (Obama, Reid Pelosi being unliked) and you have 2006 and 2008 all over again for democrats.

You best be coming up with something better than, 'Brown loses' because very few Dems, I suspect are willing to come and vote for more of the same, at this stage, which is all a vote for Coakley clearly is.

What changes if Coakley wins? Really. Nothing. That's the core of the Dem problem. In an economy year, Dems ignored jobs. Claim otherwise all you want but that 10% unemployment rate after President Perfect promised unemployment wouldn't go higher than 8 is staring every voter square in the face.

Some folks around here have real short memories. Remember how great it felt to be called a racist for supporting HRC? Remember how much respect you felt for those spouting that kind of 'logic'.

Calling Brown a 'tea-bagger' simply marginalizes those doing the name calling. Brown is an elected Republican.

the next thing to do is to figure out what is wrong and to try and address it

Knowing how some Democrats think; those that read DC pundits anyway, I wouldn't be surprised if they reacted to such an outcome by believing that they have to move farther to the right.

The old "wait until we get back and we will show how to govern and now to be paragons of virtue" has worn thin.  We are now reminded as usual that "Pols are Pol1"

They are all rascals.  Sure they may be more the rascals you like on some issues, but 1 year into the new era and we have the usual share of dumb actions, scandals, terrible pork issues, etc.

But of the 500 voters surveyed, only 20 percent said the Kennedy family nod made them more likely to vote for Coakley, and 27 percent said the endorsement made them less likely to support her.

More than half of voters - 52 percent - said the endorsements had no effect, and 2 percent were undecided or refused to answer.

"For independents, it doesn't appear to have a positive effect. In fact, it may have had a negative effect," said David Paleologis, director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center.

It's time to scrap this bipartisan log jam and get down to doing the business that people elected them to do.

Republicans aren't going to change their strategy of obstruction. It seems to be working just fine for their interest.

1. Coakley won't be in the Senate & won't be running in the next MA Senate election (November 2010 or 2012?), maybe Joe K, Ted JR (move to Mass) will, defintely a better candidate will in any event, and
   
2. wake up call to Obama and Dems not to take progressives for granted, start delivering an dgiving us a reason to repeat our 06 and 08 efforts instead of making us feel like chumps for having supported you.

A Brown win might lead to a better Dem senator when this seat is up again.  It might lead Obama, if only out of fear of his own electoral fate, to fire his wall Street crew and Rahm and start delivering for progressives.  It might lead Reid to use reconciliation for HCR and ignore GOP and Dem in name only demands.  

She supports MA's ban on direct-shipment of wine from non-MA wineries to MA citizens.

What happens if Coakley loses? What would it mean? One thing for sure - it would mean that the Democratic political message is not working.

And what is the "Democratic political message"?

This dreck of a healthcare bill - which has only to do with insurance and nothing to do with care? The treatment of women as lesser beings?
The ongoing wars?
The ongoing practice of rendition and detention without charge or trial?
The renewal of the Patriot Act?