The View from Massachusetts

from a reader of Andrew Sullivan:

I'm trying to remain hopeful Martha Coakley will win the election next Tuesday, but that is difficult to do when listening to radio talk shows. I'm not talking about the right wing talk shows, I'm talking about the respected middle-of-the-road shows on WBZ-AM radio in Boston. My god, there is so much anger out there.

Many people say they're voting for Scott Brown simply because he is someone different. They're saying screw Washington, screw the Democrats, screw political machines. They want change, and Scott Brown, they feel, represents their best shot at that. They do not care what Brown stands for, they do not care how the country got into the messes we're in, all they want is change. It's kind of a "throw the bums out mentality" -- unthinking and purely emotional. Here in Massachusetts, the Democratic Party controls the Governor's office and both houses of the Commonwealth Legislature, so we can see on the state level what is happening in Washington. Gridlock, gridlock, political gridlock, and the Democrats can't get their act together enough to solve it.

I want Martha [Coakley] to win, I desperately want her to win, for her victory represents the best chance the country has in moving health care and other needed change forward, but I'm scared shitless she'll lose by that proverbial one vote. God, I hope I'm wrong.