Top 10 Reasons Brown Won MA Election

10.  Famous Daughter.  Scott who?  Oh, Ayla Brown’s father.  If MA had allowed text voting, he’d have won in a landslide.

9.  Williams.  A liberal arts college- one of the most highly selective in the country, maybe the most selective.  Martha Coakley’s alma matter.  Elite.  By contrast, Brown graduated from Tufts University – selective yes, but not as selective as Williams.  And his BC law degree and BC basketball playing daughter bring him instant credibility in Boston circles of influence.

8.  The Economy.  High unemployment and loss of jobs…and loss of a little bit of hope and optimism in the progressive baystate.  A baystate turned impatient and independant and to Scott Brown.

7.  Health Care.  Who cares?  MA has it.

6.  The Democratic Establishment.  Didn’t help Coakley to be associated with it.  Obama, Patrick, Kerry all establishment figures unfairly blamed for the economic malaise created by 8 years of Bush.

5.  Personality.  Brown has it.  Coakley doesn’t.  You have to take the campaign to the streets, make connections, shake hands, reference a barking dog in Southie.  MA residents you know what I’m talking about.  Coakley did not connect to the electorate or to their pets.

4.  Negative Ads and Robo Calls.  No need for them.  Coakley’s use of the attack ad may have backfired.  And people actually said that they voted for the candidate from whom they received fewer calls.

3.  Snow.  Low urban turnout.  High suburban SUV turnout.

2.  Hoops and Red Sox.  The Baystate likes basketball players.  And the Browns got game.  That Coakley accused Curt Shilling of being a Yankees fan made it seem that she had no idea who he was.  You just can’t make that error and expect Red Sox nation to forget.  Now if she had just said that Shilling should stick to sports, that would have been an acceptable answer.

1.  No Party.  Republican in name only.  He’s as likely to caucus with Max Baucus.  He’ll anger both parties before long, like Senator Lieberman.  Independent, but not an ideologue  – not welcome to a tea party either and too much of a damn Yankee to find a home with the blue dogs.   But he’ll find a home on Fox with his own show soon enough.  You watch.

6 Annoyances

1. Flipping around with the remote only to find commercials and extreme volume variance.  Thank god for the mute.  I mute all commercials after I’ve heard them once.
2. The Democrats calling 1 Republican vote evidence of bipartisan support for health care reform.  The Dems don’t even have partisan support.  And the Blue Dogs – tell me, how can they even call themselves Democrats?  They seem to have more in common with the Republicans.
3. A dumb smart phone.  Mine has virtually no signal strength on the subway lines.  Not only can I not make a call, I can’t read the news, check e-mail or FB – nothing.  So I’m back to lugging a book with me on my morning commute, and frankly I don’t miss the news one bit.
4. Mike happy T conductors trying to sound like flight attendants or DJs.   Come on, the stops are all prerecorded, just open and close the doors already and let’s get going.   Makes me think of REM’s “Driver 8“:  And the train conductor says “driver 8, take a break, driver 8 take a break, we can reach our destination, but we’re still aways away.”
5. A hot toasted bagel served with tubs of cold butter on the side.  Dunkin Donuts is guilty of this crime.  I guess that’s why they’re called Dunkin Donuts and not Dunkin Bagels.  What’s worse, they waste so much plastic, serving a knife and a handful of tiny plastic tubs of butter per customer.   It would actually take the worker less time to slap on some butter than it does for them to pack the butter and plastic knife.  Notwithstanding the waste, it’s next to impossible to peel the covers off those tiny tubs.
6. Artists sampling the classics.  I think it’s a bit of a Royal Scam if the sample is not credited or authorized.  Speaking of the LP by the same name, Kayne West sampled a riff from Steely Dan’s “Kid Charlemagne” in his song “Champion“.  Is it a rip-off or a tribute?  I can’t say I’m annoyed at the reference in this contemporary song, but I wonder how Walter Becker and Donald Fagen feel about it?