If Republicans can win a U.S. Senate seat in Massachusetts, that bluest of blue states, they can win anywhere — including California. Republican Scott Brown's decisive and historic victory in the U.S. Senate race in the Bay State could be a bad sign for Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer's re-election chances in November.Brown succeeded in making the Obama administration's policies — especially its plan to overhaul the country's health care system — a millstone around the neck of Democratic candidate Martha Coakley. The same could happen to the liberal Boxer, given her support of health care reform and a host of other Obama initiatives.
This was not just a local race, but a national one. Many people in Massachusetts obviously feel the Obama administration is doing too much too fast at too high a cost to American taxpayers. And you will find the same sentiment in California.
Also, since Brown — who, as he pointed out in TV ads, drives a pickup truck — was able to reclaim populism for the GOP, it left Democrats open to the charge that they're elitists who represent the establishment. Those robes fit Boxer well. After all, during an appearance on MSNBC's "Hardball," she suggested that town hall protesters were too "well-dressed" to be authentic and so they had to be planted there by the GOP.
My name is Senator Barbara Boxer, and I drive a broom...
In a recent poll of California voters by Rasmussen Reports, Boxer was favored by only 46 percent of respondents — less than a majority — regardless of which of her Republican challengers she was pitted against. Former Hewlett-Packard executive Carly Fiorina got 43 percent against Boxer. Former U.S. Rep. Tom Campbell pulled down 42 percent. State Assemblyman Chuck DeVore got 40 percent.
Even before this week's Senate race in Massachusetts, Boxer clearly faced a difficult campaign. Now, it could be that her troubles have only intensified.