High Noon

Things are changing as I write this and it is gratifying to see.

Just a few weeks ago, Scott Brown could hardly have been less known and could hardly have had a worse chance of being elected to the Senate in the left-wing, liberal state of Massachusetts. Now,he has a pretty good chance; his poll numbers have skyrocketed and despite the Democrats' denials that he won't win, they brought out their biggest guns, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, to try to stem the tide.

This gives us a good lesson in political science and I am sure our wise politicians will take note of what happened here. For months, there have been intimations that the health care bill was unpopular and as time went on, and the congress kept fooling around with it to garner a vote here and a vote there, it became such a grotesque creation that the majority of the electorate were opposed to it. But the Democrats, continuing to smoke their own dope, really believed that the health care bill was the most just, fair and popular thing that ever passed the congress. Scott Brown's meteoric rise in the polls can only be attributed to his opposition to the health care bill and any politician who rationalizes this away, (as some have done) does so at his own peril. Our politicians are very sensitive to hot-button issues.

Whether Martha Coakley wins or not, I wouldn't be surprised if some of the Congressmen and Senators who voted for the bill will switch their vote when the compromise version is submitted for final passage.

I don't have an answer to the following question. Can Joe Biden, as president of the Senate cast a 60th vote to break a fillibuster in case Brown wins election to the Senate? According to my understanding of Robert's rules, a chairman can always vote, not only to break a tie or to create one. I think the Senate rules may be a bit different, limiting the Vice President's vote only to these two aforementioned occasions.

This will be a tense 36 hours for our country and I hope the best man wins this election.