At the Washington Cathedral memorial service for conservative icon Jack Kemp last May, many of his loyalists asked the same question: with Kemp’s passing, would his infectious pro-growth optimism also depart our political stage? That profoundly sad day, it certainly seemed possible.

Just eight months later, there is a remarkable potential candidate in the Kemp mold who may oppose – and defeat – uber liberal Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY). New York Republican, Conservative and Tea Party leaders are talking up the potential candidacy of CNBC commentator Larry Kudlow, a former advisor to Kemp and Ronald Reagan.

For decades, Chuck Schumer has bullied his way to victory at the polls. He’s a prodigious fundraiser, a tough campaigner, and has long been thought unbeatable. But as former New York Assembly Republican leader John Faso noted recently in the New York Post, Schumer’s “image of invincibility has been fed by the failure of Republicans in New York and Washington to aggressively attack his vulnerabilities.”

Many New Yorkers agree: it is difficult to find a federal legislator as odious as Schumer. He is personally responsible for much of the bad policy that led to the economic melt down of the United States. He stands firmly in favor of health care reform that is bad for New Yorkers and he supports a tax on banks that is poison for the Empire State.

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Later today Scott Brown will be sworn in as the 41st Republican in the United States Senate.
He is on his way to Washington DC right now with certificatation in hand.

One of the many players who contributed to Scott Brown’s victory is Ken Pittman from WBSM in Massachusetts. Ken interviewed Democrat Martha Coakley the week before the Massachusetts election. It was during this interview that Martha told Ken that if you object to abortion and are a devout Catholic then…

“You probably shouldn’t work in the emergency room.”

That was the wrong answer.

Ken sent me this article last night that he wrote on this historic Massachusetts election:

America Chose the Pickup Truck Over the Prius

In what has to be the most important non-presidential election race in many decades, Scott Brown won a most unlikely race in the state bluer than Frank Sinatra’s eyes, Massachusetts. So much weighed on the outcome outside of our state that the RNC finally heeded to the desperate cries for help from those of us here who have fought behind the enemy lines, praying for the cavalry for a half century.

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The Hill is reporting that Senator Tom Harkin, chairman of the Senate Health Committee, stated that negotiators from the White House, Senate and House reached a final deal on healthcare reform days before Scott Brown’s win in Massachusetts.

From the article:

Labor leaders had announced an agreement with White House and congressional representatives over an excise tax on high-cost insurance plans on the Thursday before the special election.

Harkin said “we had an agreement, with the House, the White House and the Senate. We sent it to [the Congressional Budget Office] to get scored and then Tuesday happened and we didn’t get it back.” He said negotiators had an agreement in hand on Friday, Jan. 15.

Harkin made clear that negotiators had reached a final deal on the entire bill, not just the excise plans, which had been reported the previous day, Jan. 14.

Harkin said the deal covered the prescription-drug “donut hole,” the level of federal insurance subsidies, national insurance exchanges and federal Medicaid assistance to states.

This cannot be right.

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From the Boston Herald:

Neither rain nor snow in dead of winter could keep voters away from the hottest special election in living memory, as elections officials today reported high voter turnouts across the state in the 11th-hour nailbiter to choose a successor for the late U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy.

Steady streams of voters have been heading into the polls to have their say in the bitter contest between GOP state Sen. Scott Brown and Democrat Attorney General Martha Coakley – a fight to determine the fate of the controversial health care bill, President Obama’s agenda, and one-party dominance in Washington, D.C.

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I’ve been involved in politics for longer than I usually care to remember. I’ve been in and around countless campaigns at all levels of government. One of the more intense times in political campaigns is the period immediately following a campaign; when operatives are busy taking credit or assigning blame. And let me tell you, they take this spin-battle very seriously.

That said, this is a battle that takes place AFTER the returns are in. Politico has a “leaked” memo from the Coakley campaign blaming national Democrats for their poor showing:

National Dems Failed to Aid Coakley Until Too Late

— Coakley campaign provided national Democrats with all poll results since early December

— Coakley campaign noted concerns about “apathy” and failure of national Democrats to contribute early in December. Coakley campaign noted fundraising concerns throughout December and requested national Democratic help.

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Yesterday, I introduced myself and told my story about a half-dozen Californians who decided, at the last minute, to travel to Massachusetts to campaign for Scott Brown. Below is video from today’s activity on the Brown Campaign.

This video is quickly making the rounds across the Internet. It show’s Coakley staffers or volunteers throwing some reporters out of a Coakley office. Aside from the humor of a bunch of leftists and progressives suddenly discovering and asserting private property rights, the video has a classic display of the left’s quick resort to the N-Bomb, as in Nazis.

The video is just about a minute long and they can still work in a comparison to Nazis? Sheesh.

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In Massachusetts, where 97% of us have health insurance by mandate since 2006, we have learned a few things about health care reform.

We have learned that universal coverage does not mean universal access to a doctor.  The Massachusetts Medical Society reports that there is a critical shortage of family physicians and severe shortage of internal medicine doctors.  Seven physician specialties are also operating in critical or severe physician labor markets.

A recent study by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation showed that 75% of non-emergency ER visits occurred because a regular physician was not available after hours, and half of these visits occurred because a timely appointment was unavailable.  With more than half of all the doctors trained in Massachusetts leaving the state, citing the practice environment and low salary levels, and one out of every four currently practicing doctors considering a career change, it does not appear that access issues are going to improve soon.

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When I heard that Brown had been within reaching distance of Coakley, and that Brown would be the 41st vote to stop Obamacare. I got together with a good friend of mine and said “We need to be there.”

Knowing how huge this election was and how important it was to me, we got on the our local radio station last Friday and said “We are going to Massachusetts to defeat Martha Coakley in one of 2010s most important elections. Who is coming?”

Being from California, and with such last minute notice, we didn’t think we could get anyone to come. To our surprise, 6 strangers come forward to help us for an election on the other side of the country. I have created a video blog of what is has been like since we have been here, and what it is like to work on a campaign, to try and make a difference, show people how important it is to be involved in politics, for it is the future of our country.

Tomorrow is a historic election for Senate in Massachusetts.

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“I certainly didn’t realize that this was a rally for Martha and I thought it was inappropriate that she was starting to ask for other people’s votes when we were trying to remember Martin Luther King Jr.”

Scott Brown
2010 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast
Boston, MA

Martha Coakley told attendees at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast this morning that, “Dr. King would be standing with me if he was alive today.” Scott Brown answered reporters while leaving the breakfast:

“I thought it was inappropriate to be politicking when we are trying to honor Martin Luther King today. I don’t have any comments on what it says about her. Right now I am not going to comment on anything political right now, we’re going to start campaigning in about a half hour… I certainly didn’t realize that this was a rally for Martha and I thought it was inappropriate that she was starting to ask for other people’s votes when we were trying to remember Martin Luther King Jr. …I don’t remember hearing anything about Martin Luther King except for minor references. “

Scott Brown attended the breakfast this morning but was not asked to speak.

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President Obama traveled to Boston to help stop the bleeding of Martha Coakley’s campaign from several self-inflicted wounds. There are many critiques of the speech, with some pundits saying Obama was flat, uninteresting, and full of the usual drive-by campaign rhetoric that we have all become able to recite ad nauseum.

As most of us are aware, Obama–without his teleprompter–rambles, is at times incoherent, and goes on and on to answer a yes or no question. He needs his teleprompter. It’s not like an addiction need, it’s more like ‘I really need my teleprompter, because I don’t want to say what you don’t want to hear’ type of issue.

Obama and his compliant press have tried to manufacture him as a centrist; however, that cover has been blown as of today.

What was stated in the Coakley cheerleading campaign speech in Boston, I don’t think Obama meant to say. He’s been off the campaign trail for so long, that he’s not on his game; I think the misstatement by Obama was a huge gaffe. At about 4:28 during the speech, Obama states:

“…you will carry on the best progressive, forward-looking values…”

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