Tuesday, January 19, 2010

No Exit Polls in Massachusetts Today...

....and I am not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing....

I'm feeling pretty confident, based on anecdotal evidence and parallels to the New Jersey governor's race, that the Democrats are going to get their clock cleaned when all is said and done tonight (Disclaimer: In Massachusetts, a Brown win by 2 can be considered a "clock-cleaning"). But without exit polls - no one thought the race would be competitive, no one thought they would be needed - will the Democrats get the message?

The Dems are in full damage-control/bullspit spin mode right now - Martha was a bad campaigner, Brown was "clever", the issues were local....you name it, anything to avoid stating the obvious: This is a blue-state revolt against a government that has gone too far.

With exit polling, it might be a bit harder for the Democrats to turn to their narcissistic narcotic of "it's got nothing to do with us". Hearsay evidence from Massachusetts shows that even Democrats are voting Brown in droves; faced with this information in black and white, could the Democrats continue to lie to themselves (or be lied to by Rahm Emmanuel and Nancy Pelosi)? Would they be forced, in the presence of data showing overwhelming opposition to their agenda even in a friendly state, to rethink their strategies and vision for governing?

We'll never know. Instead, bet on those bullspit excuses ruling the day, and for the Democrats to stay in denial and return to business as usual on the 20th. Will this lead to even greater voter anger next November? Hell yeah, and may even give the Republicans control of the House and Senate once more.

But there's a lot of damage the Dems can do in the interim...

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