Scott Brown Debates Martha Coakley, Raising Over a Million in One Day

Scott Brown, the Republican candidate for US Senator running in Massachusetts for the seat once held by Ted Kennedydebated his Democratic opponent Martha Coakley last night. In the meantime, Scott Brown scored a huge fund raising victory.

The Boston Globe reported the debate as "spirited," with Coakley acting "dispassionate" but with Scott Brown continuing to jab on issues ranging from health care to the War on Terror. Martha Coakley attempted to tie Scott Brown to the Bush/Cheney administration. She also suggested that Scott Brown had gone beyond the pale when he attempted to amend a bill to allow hospital workers to deny contraceptives to rape victims if they had religious objections. The amendment was not adopted and Brown voted for the bill with the provision requiring contraceptives to be provided.

The Globe suggested that no knock out blows were landed, but it appears that Scott Brown got off the line of the night. When asked what he was doing running for a Kennedy senate seat, Scott Brown shot back, "With all due respect, it's not the Kennedys' seat. It's not the Democrats' seat. It's the people's seat.'' Some observers are comparing the line to the famous incident during the 1980 Campaign when then candidate Ronald Reagan declared, during a debate in Nashua, New Hampshire, "I'm paying for these microphones, Mr. Green!"

In the meantime, Scott Brown enjoyed enormous success conducting a web based "money bomb" in which a website called "Red Invades Blue" was set up inviting people to donate money. The initial goal was set for $500,000. As of this writing, the "Red Invades Blue" money bomb site had raised almost a million and a third dollars, money Scott Brown will need in the home stretch of the campaign.

People on both the right and the left are having a hard time grasping the enormity of what may be happening in Massachusetts. Writing in the American Spectator, W. James Antle III suggested:

"Massachusetts is one of the most Democratic states in the nation. Republicans hold about a tenth of the state legislative seats and represent only a slightly larger percentage of the commonwealth's registered voters. Barack Obama won Massachusetts -- the only state to vote for George McGovern in 1972 -- by 26 points.

"Massachusetts has no GOP statewide elected officials and hasn't sent a Republican to the U.S. Senate since Edward Brooke was last re-elected in 1972. The late, sainted Ted Kennedy's Senate seat doesn't seem like an auspicious opportunity to reverse that trend. "

And yet the evidence, both anecdotal and from the polls, suggests that Scott Brown may have the chance to score the greatest political upset in living memory. Democrats are clearly worried at the idea of a Republican in Ted Kennedy's seat, voting down health care reform. Republicans are beyond ecstatic at the same idea.

Will Scott Brown break the curse that many Massachusetts Republicans have endured, of making a strong showing, but then fading in the stretch? We'll know in about a week.

Sources: Can Scott Brown Win Teddy Kennedy's Senate Seat?, Mark R. Whittington, Associated Content, January 4th, 2010
Coakley, Brown in bitter debate, Matt Viser and Andrea Estes, Boston Globe, January 11th, 2010

Red Invades Blue, Brown for US Senate

The Scott Brown Surge, William James Antle III, The American Spectator, January 12, 2010

Scott Brown Ahead by One, According to PPP Poll, Mark R. Whittington, Associated Content, January 10th, 2010