Scott Brown wins Massachusetts Senate special election race

State Sen. Scott Brown won a remarkable upset victory over state Attorney General Martha Coakley (D) tonight in a Massachusetts Senate special election, a victory likely to spawn broad-ranging political and policy consequences heading into the midterm elections.

"Tonight the independent voice of Massachusetts has spoken," Brown said to raucuous cheers at his victory rally.

Brown's victory is the first for Republicans at the Senate level for Republican in Massachusetts since 1972 and he becomes the lone GOPer in the 12-person federal delegation from the Bay State.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said President Obama called Brown and "congratulated Senator Brown on his victory and a well-run campaign."

While it is a historic win within Massachusetts, the implications of Brown's victory for the national political scene are even more critical.

Brown will give Republicans a 41st seat in the Senate, robbing Democrats of the filibuster-proof majority the party had used to pass President Obama's health care plan late last year. In the immediate lead-up to tonight's vote, Democrats -- including the White House and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) -- insisted that the party would move forward on health care but it is unclear whether that bravado will carry over in the coming days as the party seeks to deal with Coakley's stunning upset.

"I have no interest in sugar coating what happened in Massachusetts," said Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman Bob Menendez (N.J.). "There is a lot of anxiety in the country right now. Americans are understandably impatient."

Congressional strategists had warned in the closing days of the Massachusetts Senate race that a Coakley defeat had the potential to trigger a series of retirements within the Democratic ranks as members flee a political wave that could wash out dozens in the House and high single digits on the Senate side.

"My message to my clients? Jump ship now," said one Democratic operative who advises a number of targeted Members of Congress. "Obama can't help you."

Democratic leaders spent much of Tuesday reaching out to vulnerable Members to convince them that the circumstances that led to Coakley's demise were unique to her and the state and not indicative of the general political environment in which they will have to run in November.

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Chris Van Hollen (Md.) sought to downplay the Massachusetts result in a statement released after Coakley had conceded the contest. "House Democrats have been preparing since day one last year for what we knew historically would be a very challenging election cycle," said Van Hollen.

It's not clear whether these efforts will pay off as Democratic Members of Congress were already fearful of what is coming in 2010 -- particularly after five retirements and a party switch over the past two months in competitive districts around the country.

The high stakes for Democrats were apparent in the final week of the campaign as the national party poured resources and manpower into Massachusetts in hopes of saving what was clearly a flagging campaign.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spent nearly $1.5 million on ads in support of Brown and President Obama made a hastily-scheduled visit to the state on Sunday -- his wife's birthday -- in hopes of energizing a lethargic party base.

As Tuesday wore on, and it became clear that Coakley was likely to come up short, the finger pointing within the Democratic party began in earnest with the candidate's advisers insisting that they had not received nearly enough support in the past month from national Democrats and DC-based strategists alleging that the blame for the loss lie entirely on Coakley.

"The campaign failed to recognize this threat, failed to keep Coakley on the campaign trail, failed to create a negative narrative about Brown [and] failed to stay on the air in December while he was running a brilliant campaign," said one Democratic party official, adding that it is "wishful thinking" from Coakley to blame the national party for "one of the worst debacle in American political history".

Republicans, meanwhile, were gleeful -- touting the Massachusetts victory on top of wins in gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey in 2009 as evidence that the political pendulum was swinging quickly in their direction.

"Democrats will try to play this race off as an isolated incident, but the recent spate of polling in swing districts across the country proves that Massachusetts isn't the exception of the 2010 election cycle, its the rule," said National Republican Congressional Committee communications director Ken Spain. "Any Democrat who voted for the health care bill now knows how big of an albatross they will have hanging around their necks."