Still, there's many a month before the November elections. And Jennifer Lawless, a former Brown University political science professor now at American University, isn't buying into assertions that Brown's victory over Coakley signals some broad rejection of the Obama agenda in Democratic strongholds.
"This is not indicative of anything," she says. "He was an excellent candidate and she was not, after the primary, as energizing as would be hoped."
Or so a nervous bunch of Democrats hope.
Related:
Capuano for Senate, Chaos Theory, Ready to rumble, More 
- Capuano for Senate
After a telescoped campaign, Massachusetts Democrats go to the polls Tuesday to choose a successor to a legend, Ted Kennedy.
- Chaos Theory
In less than two weeks, when Massachusetts voters elect Martha Coakley to the US Senate — let's not pretend that Republican state senator Scott Brown has any chance of pulling off the monumental upset — they will trigger a massive domino effect that has the state's political class buzzing with anticipation.
- Ready to rumble
Last summer, the upcoming race that got most Bay State politicos salivating was the run for governor.
- Department of conjecture
The Haiti disaster will not serve to turn a state from toss-up to safely Republican as the George W. Bush Administration's calculated response to Hurricane Katrina did in Louisiana.
- Trying times for Obama
It was only a matter of time before President Barack Obama turned into a deficit hawk. But it is a measure of the desperation sparked by Scott Brown's election to Ted Kennedy's old Senate seat that Obama hatched before the conclusion of the 2010 congressional elections and unveiled a spending freeze.
- Photos: MassCann's 2010 Freedom Rally
MassCann, our state's chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, hosts the 2010 Freedom Rally at Boston Common on September 18, 2010.
- Caprio's Clinton fixation
It was the highlight of Democrat Frank Caprio's bid for governor: an endorsement by Bill Clinton before an enormous American flag at the Rhode Island Convention Center.
- Review: Bangor artist Kenny Cole lights the 'Hellfire' at SPACE Gallery
"The Hellfire Story" is a tough pill to swallow.
- The Kennedys will rise again!
As you've probably heard a couple thousand times by now, Rhode Island Representative Patrick J. Kennedy's retirement means Washington is without a member of Team Camelot for the first time in 64 years.
- Reed on the Arizona shootings, the Tea Party, and why Bob Gates might stick around
Just days after the Arizona tragedy, the Phoenix sat down with Senator Jack Reed for a Q+A about the shooting, the Tea Party, and some troubling news out of Pakistan.
- Less
Topics:
This Just In
, Massachusetts, Martha Coakley, Tea, More
, Massachusetts, Martha Coakley, Tea, Patrick Kennedy, Patrick Kennedy, Senate, Ted Kennedy, Betsy Dennigan, Darrell West, Jim Langevin, Less
