Any chance Brown would switch sides before 2012?

[DefenseLawyer]

Clearly when Brown got into the race he didn't think he was going to win. Nobody thought he was going to win. So he wakes up today and he's got a sweet gig until 2012. But realistically, I would guess most wouldn't give a Republican a chance to win in MA during a presidential election year. Any chance he finds that he enjoys being a Senator enough to switch sides to try and get re-elected? Just a thought. Stranger things have happened in politics.

[blondeatlast]

1. He's going to be as ineffective as dog poo. Politics is all he's got.

His re-election committe has no doubt been seated already.

I will bet with you that he'll campaign as a "maverick" like McCain portends to be (and succeeds with the rich old folk here in AZ).

[Ian David]

2. When monkeys fly outa my butt

[eilen]

3. Well, first, he'd have to run against an opponent

that wanted the seat. I hadn't realized that Coakley went on a fucking 2 week vacation in the Bahamas merely weeks before the election during this horrible recession. Annnd, she was lazy, couldn't stand outside and shake hands and ask people to vote for her but expected the left base to do it for her? Out of touch much? Meanwhile, Scott is driving his truck around the state....

I don't blame the voters for retiring Coakley. There really wasn't anyone more suitable to run-- really? Where was the Democratic Chairman? I guess the political leadership were too busy counting their health insurance and financial services lobby money.

[KamaAina]

6. Rep. Capuano ran in the Dem primary

but he's a real progressive, not terribly friendly to the health insurance and financial services lobby, so naturally the leadership* turned to Chokely. :eyes:

[cali]

10. uh, you appear to know nothing about Coakley.

She made much of her rep by going after corporations and banking interests. that's hardly a secret. May I suggest you actually do a wee bit of research before making ignorant assertions?

[eilen]

21. My assertion is that she was a piss poor campaigner. nt

[FBaggins]

4. No

N/t

[WilliamPitt]

5. *snerk*

Brown just went to the front of the line for GOP presidential aspirants, 2012 and/or 2016.

Watch it happen.

[eleny]

7. First thing I thought when he won last night

After all, Obama sprang from the Senate almost as soon as he got there. But he'll have to start planning soon.

[WilliamPitt]

9. Smart money says

he's been planning it for a while already.

Donb't put anything past this guy, and for sure don't count on him being done. He just defeated a sitting and successful Democratic AG in a Dem-run state, handily. She ran a dogshit campaign, for sure, but that only goes so far. If he's an idiot, his staff ain't.

[eleny]

12. Being up there, you ought to know the word on the street

Will, I took one look at that "JFK Jr-like" face and the words uh-oh went off in my head like two gongs.

Who else do they have, Sarah? :rofl: Now there's a primary made in hell. Dueling 4x's.

[WilliamPitt]

13. Two years

He has to run again in two years.

Two things will happen.

He'll either legislate on his belly and try to keep the seat in 2012...

...or he'll go batshit crazy and endear himself to as many GOP factions as possible by proposing legislation to give banks the right to save fetuses from universal health care, and then step out of the MA Senate race and run for president in 2012.

[eleny]

18. He has to make a splash somehow

Remember how Obama spoke at the convention. Brown's problem is that he doesn't have the savoir faire.

But last night they were saying he would be giving the alternative address to Obama's State of the Union speech later this month. I consider that Brown's debut for broader consideration. That'll be the Party's first step towards the 2012 presidential.

[WilliamPitt]

19. "18. He has to make a splash somehow"

He just did.

And a big one at that.

[eleny]

27. oh yeah, *that splash - 1a

[TheCowsCameHome]

23. I'll bet they're at the print shop ordering the ballots now.

Count on him to be in come '12

[last1standing]

8. Who Brown caucuses with means nothing.

What he votes for means everything. I see nothing in his record that indicates him turning into a raging liberal so I think we're barking up the wrong tree with this.

[DefenseLawyer]

28. I'm not talking about him "turning liberal"

Just seeing the handwriting on the wall, that not a lot of Republicans get elected in a Democratic state in an election year when there is high turnout (like for a presidential election in 2012). Would be no different than Shelby or Specter, neither of whom made radical changes in their positions- just switched parties to stay alive. I'm not saying he would turn to the good side, only that he might try to make the weasel move if he thought it would get him re-elected. I'm just throwing it out there because, as I said before, once they get there, most politicians want to stay.

[Confusious]

11. What fantasy world are you living in?

Put down the pipe and pay attention.

[BurtWorm]

14. Show him a room with a soft spot to lie on and a camera and tell him it's all yours, baby!

If you play your cards right.


:patriot:

[jpak]

15. !

:rofl:

[rucky]

16. What about him is remotely Democratic?

[DefenseLawyer]

20. Nothing at all. But politicians do like to get re-elected.

Specter, for example, became a Republican to run for office then many years later when he thought he could only win as a Democrat he became a Democrat. Ideology has nothing to do with it. You aren't going to get 40% turnout in Boston for a presidential election in 2012. He would have a hard time holding the seat as a Republican.

[smalll]

17. There's a CHANCE he could go Lieber-style Independent --

To play, as Lieby does, the powerful straddler between the parties. He's a conservative, but not that conservative. Snowe and Collins are more liberal than he, but they tend to stay quiet and out of the fray. With the attention he's getting, his "not that conservative" stance at least compared to the rest of the Repubs in the Senate, and the fact he's not that smart MIGHT mean he'll fall into unexpected friction with his party, then, why not? Be the Lieberman of Massachussets, from the other side.

[TheCowsCameHome]

22. Only if Limbaugh or Beck form a Neonut party.

[timeforpeace]

24. Keep your day job. Punditry is out.

[JI7]

25. i hope he does and still ends up losing to a real Dem

[KingFlorez]

26. I wouldn't count on that, but I do want to see how he'll vote

Being a New England Republican, it's possible he'll do something to tick off the teabaggers, but who knows?