On the Next Right blog serial poster Ironman calls for Republicans to seriously contest the January 19 special election to fill Edward Kennedy’s Senate seat in Massachusetts. I’ve argued that this is a long shot, and Ironman doesn’t persuade me that it isn’t. But he does make one good statistical point. While Barack Obama’s 62%-36% margin in Massachusetts makes it seem out of reach for a Republican, Republican Chris Christie did win the gubernatorial race in New Jersey which Obama carried 57%-42%. He might have added that in Connecticut, which Obama carried 61%-38%, Senator Christopher Dodd has been running far behind in the polls. Democratic nominee Martha Coakley doesn’t have the baggage that incumbent Democrat Jon Corzine carried into the New Jersey race or that Friend of Angelo Dodd is carrying in Connecticut. But it’s not clear that she inspires the kind of strong positive feelings that motivated so many Americans to turn out and vote for Barack Obama in 2008.
