Green Party Watch

The Massachusetts Green-Rainbow Party has released a statement on the reasons for the Democratic Party’s loss of the US Senate seat formerly occupied by Ted Kennedy (from Green Mass Group, highly recommended reading for anyone interested in MA Green politics):

With the surprise victory of Scott Brown over Martha Coakley in Tuesday’s special Senate election, the conventional wisdom regarding the dominance of the Democratic Party in Obama-era Massachusetts has been shattered.  But in the scramble to understand what the voters said on Tuesday a fundamental lesson is being missed. This was a revolt of progressives against a hijacked Democratic Party – not a sudden conversion of Ted Kennedy supporters to Republican ranks.

The exit polls and the hard vote totals bear this out. Brown benefited from two very strong trends: first, a sizable number of Obama voters who were inspired by Obama’s progressive message in 2008 were not motivated to go to the polls. Secondly, a large block of voters who were disgusted by Obama’s acceptance of an industry-friendly health bill without a public option went to the polls and voted for Brown in protest.

Brown did a good job of motivating his smaller conservative base but this alone would not have been enough.  He would have lost in a landslide if the progressive voters had felt that Coakley was on their side. The real story of this election is the rejection of a party that
has been hijacked by the special interests behind much of the crisis in health care – as well as the Wall Street meltdown, home foreclosures, climate change, and the expanding war in Afghanistan. The emergence of this break-away values-driven movement will change the face of politics in Massachusetts.

Read the full article and discussion at Green Mass Group.