Scott Brown beats Martha Coakley -- and life goes on

Eugene Robinson
WashPost

Well, that was quick. I thought the Apocalypse would be, you know, more of a blockbuster production, with a lot of explosions and computer-generated effects. Instead, just a phone call of concession -- offstage, no less -- from Martha Coakley to Scott Brown.

You’d think from the overheated commentary that this was the end of the world (as we know it). Instead of having 20 more votes in the Senate than the Republicans, the Democrats now have only 18 more votes. Run for your lives.

From the Democratic Party’s point of view, losing the Senate supermajority can’t be construed as a net positive. But being left with an 18-vote majority isn’t usually the sort of thing that throws a party into abject despair. One side effect is that the poisonous dynamic that took hold as the Senate inched toward passing its health-care bill -- any member of the Democratic caucus could hold the entire process hostage with outlandish demands, which Majority Leader Harry Reid had to meet -- is a thing of the past.

From now on, the Democratic leadership will have to peel off at least one Republican -- or else take other parliamentary routes that require just a simple majority. The way the Senate works right now, Reid has as much chance of snagging 10 Republican votes as he has of wooing one. (A bit of advice for the majority leader: Don’t pine too much over Olympia Snowe. She’s not that into you.) Either a bill is going to have pretty broad bipartisan support, or it’s going to have to get passed in a way that needs only 51 votes. No Ben Nelson or Joe Lieberman can become King for a Day.

(More here.)