What a difference one election can make. Before the upset win on January 19 by Republican Scott Brown in the race for a U.S. Senate seat in Massachusetts, it looked like the nation was a few weeks away from seeing a healthcare reform bill crafted by Democrats signed into law.
The addition of Brown to the Senate means a subtraction for the Democrats. In the sharply divided chamber, Democrats will no longer control the 60 votes needed to shut down Republican filibusters. Shortly before Christmas, the Senate passed a healthcare reform bill with just the requisite 60 votes. Now, they're one vote short.
The election of Brown, a six-term state legislator from Wrentham, Mass., upended the political landscape in the heavily Democratic Bay State. Brown did what many thought was impossible: he captured the Senate seat that was held for 47 years by the late liberal icon Ted Kennedy.
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