I must admit that I haven't dug deep into the details of the election/certification laws in Mass. but I was overcome with a sense of sad irony as I thought about this over the weekend and then saw the following:
Massachusetts race could change health care dynamic
Buzz up!
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Democratic leaders in Congress spent much of 2009 racing against self-imposed deadlines on health care. But the party could face an even more pressing timeline to finish its work on the legislation in early 2010 if Republican Scott Brown wins the Jan. 19 special Senate election in Massachusetts.
http://blogs.usatoday.com/...
So here's is how the scenario does play out. If the Republicans(Brown) win Senator Ted's seat, he becomes the 41st vote in the Senate. Then it becomes a further race against time to get HCR passed as quickly as possible before Brown gets certified and sworn in. And apparently there are enough "soft" areas in both processes that they can be stretched out a bit. And of course, both processes are controlled by the Dems. :-) Well, for now at least :-(
Now what a sad, sad irony would it be be that losing Ted's old seat would actually end up killing HCR at the end. I know there are only a couple of polls that actually show that happening but there is no question that the race is tightening up and it is making people and the pundits a bit nervous.
In fact, I just read somewhere that Hari Sevugana has been dispatched to quickly help Coakley manage their communication strategy better in the last week.
Of course, as many have already postulated, this election is also a test of how much malaise has set in with the President's base and will there be a last minute surge by the base or even more nail biting..an unexpected surge on election day itself?
Then there is the weather.....seriously! If the weather turns bad and it turns into a low turnout election, Coakley could be in some trouble.
Now whether Coakley ran a complacent campaign or a combination of the some of the reasons above, it would be quite a shame to see HCR defeated because we couldn't even defend Uncle Ted's seat ;-( I'm sure he would shed a tear or two up there, if it did happen.