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铁杆支持医疗改革的爱德华-肯尼迪去世之后, 留下的空缺居然成为阻碍医改通过的绊脚石!
布朗将是30年来第一个来自马萨诸塞州的共和党参议员。
参议院60票通过已无法保证,奥巴玛执政严重受挫

波士顿-

在马萨诸塞州一向以自由派为主的民主党重镇, 居然被一位共和党参议员候选人斯科特-布朗拿下由爱德华-肯尼迪去世而留下的空缺, 完全打乱了奥巴码总统和民主党的阵容, 几乎就要创造历史的美国医疗改革立法或许无法通过. 奥巴玛第一年的执政首要目标将功亏一篑.

布朗依仗选民愤怒的浪潮赢得美国参议院的一个极为重要的席位. 具有讽刺意义的是, 这个席位正是由已故爱德华-肯尼迪占据近半个世纪后,因病去世所留下的空缺. 肯尼迪是自由派民主党人, 是主张医疗改革的主要人物. 奥巴马总统 医疗改革 在怀疑和玷污他的第一年任期结束。

一度被青睐的民主党人候选人 玛莎-科克利竞选失利, 让民主党大本营十分尴尬, 也让白宫十分焦虑和震惊，尽管奥巴马在周日赶到波士顿，试图拯救民主党的这位处于劣势的女性候选人。她在周二竞选失败, 将预示奥巴马总统和民主党在今年秋天众议院，参议院和州长候选人全国性大选上会遇到巨大的麻烦和变数。

“我并不想搪塞和回避发生在马萨诸塞州的事，”参议员梅南德斯，参议院民主党竞选委员会主席说。 “现在全美上下都有一种焦虑。美国民众越来越显得不耐烦, 这是可以理解的。”

布朗将成为第41届参议院确00名参议员中的共和党籍成员，这可能使共和党在参议院得以阻止总统的医疗保险立法通过. 并使接下来的许多立法议程受阻。在此关键时刻, 民主党人特别需要科克利能赢得第60票, 才能挫败共和党在医疗改革上的拖延阻挠 (filibusters)。

布朗这位共和党议员将完成肯尼迪的任职期限，并面临在2012年大选时重新参选。

布朗在这次补员选举中, 以52%对47%。

再有一天，就是奥巴马宣誓就职一周年，选过去这一年, 选民的心情十分复杂, 期待变化, 但又充满怨恨和焦虑，这次麻州参议员补选, 是在这样的确背景下展开的: 持续高失业率，华尔街救助，恐怖者试图爆炸飞机, 联邦预算赤字和党派无休止争执保健改革。

布朗不失时机地抓住了选民的不满情绪, 在最后超过竞选对手科克利。他所采取的共和党竞选活力，包括“茶话会后台”的抗议运动，同时吸引了不少失望的民主党人和不安的独立人士，最终把选票投给他. 他们认为国家的发展方向有问题。

布朗最露骨的竞选承诺，就是要对保健计划投反对票。

虽然总统并不是这次选票的核心，但他表现和政绩是在许多选民的心中权衡的筹码。

“我选奥巴马，因为我想改变。...我认为他把它给我们，但我不喜欢的方向，他的标题不是说，”约翰-特廖洛，38，注册的独立人士,他把选票投给布朗。他说，他有受挫折的感觉，他认为推进保健立法速度过快，使他投票支持布朗。

选举结束后, 科克利-打电话给布朗承认竞选失败，奥巴马给布朗和科克利都打了电话，分别祝贺和安抚他(她)们。

这位失利的民主党候选人说，总统告诉她：“我们赢不了他们。”

马萨诸塞国务卿威廉高尔文说，他将在周三通知美国参议院布朗当选。最初，他说他可能需要两个多星期的特别证明选举结果，使民主党在其中一个窗口，试图匆匆通过奥巴马的医疗保健计划的最后通过。

参议院多数党领袖里德，承诺给予布朗相应的参议员座位“只要适当的文书工作已经收到。”

布朗将是30年来第一个来自马萨诸塞州的共和党参议员。

By GLEN JOHNSON and LIZ SIDOTI, Associated Press Writers Glen Johnson And Liz Sidoti, Associated Press Writers – 3 mins ago

BOSTON – In an epic upset in liberal Massachusetts, Republican Scott Brown rode a wave of voter anger to win the U.S. Senate seat held by the late Edward M. Kennedy for nearly half a century, leaving President Barack Obama's health care overhaul in doubt and marring the end of his first year in office.

Addressing an exuberant victory celebration Tuesday night, Brown declared he was "ready to go to Washington without delay" as the crowd chanted, "Seat him now." Democrats indicated they would, deflating a budding controversy over whether they would try to block Brown long enough to complete congressional passage of the health care plan he has promised to oppose.

"The people of Massachusetts have spoken. We welcome Scott Brown to the Senate and will move to seat him as soon as the proper paperwork has been received," said Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin said he would notify the Senate on Wednesday that Brown had been elected.

The loss by the once-favored Democrat Martha Coakley in the Democratic stronghold was a stunning embarrassment for the White House after Obama rushed to Boston on Sunday to try to save the foundering candidate. Her defeat on Tuesday signaled big political problems for the president's party this fall when House, Senate and gubernatorial candidates are on the ballot nationwide.

Brown's victory was the third major loss for Democrats in statewide elections since Obama became president. Republicans won governors' seats in Virginia and New Jersey in November.

"I have no interest in sugarcoating what happened in Massachusetts," said Sen. Robert Menendez, the head of the Senate Democrats' campaign committee. "There is a lot of anxiety in the country right now. Americans are understandably impatient."

Brown will become the 41st Republican in the 100-member Senate, which could allow the GOP to block the president's health care legislation. Democrats needed Coakley to win for a 60th vote to thwart Republican filibusters. The trouble may go deeper: Democratic lawmakers could read the results as a vote against Obama's broader agenda, weakening their support for the president. And the results could scare some Democrats from seeking office this fall.

The Republican will finish Kennedy's unexpired term, facing re-election in 2012.

Brown led by 52 per cent to 47 percent with all but 3 percent of precincts counted. Turnout was exceptional for a special election in January, with light snow reported in parts of the state. More voters showed up at the polls Tuesday than in any non-presidential general election in Massachusetts since 1990.

One day shy of the first anniversary of Obama's swearing-in, the election played out amid a backdrop of animosity and resentment from voters over persistently high unemployment, Wall Street bailouts, exploding federal budget deficits and partisan wrangling over health care.

"I voted for Obama because I wanted change. ... I thought he'd bring it to us, but I just don't like the direction that he's heading," said John Triolo, 38, a registered independent who voted in Fitchburg.

He said his frustrations, including what he considered the too-quick pace of health care legislation, led him to vote for Brown.

For weeks considered a long shot, Brown seized on voter discontent to overtake Coakley in the campaign's final stretch. His candidacy energized Republicans, including backers of the "tea party" protest movement, while attracting disappointed Democrats and independents uneasy with where they felt the nation was heading.

A cornerstone of Brown's campaign was his promise to vote against the health care plan.

Though the president wasn't on the ballot, he was on many voters' minds.

Coakley called Brown conceding the race, and Obama talked to both Brown and Coakley, congratulating them on the race.

The Democrat said the president told her: "We can't win them all."

Brown will be the first Republican senator from Massachusetts in 30 years.

Even before the first results were announced, administration officials were privately accusing Coakley of a poorly run campaign and playing down the notion that Obama or a toxic political landscape had much to do with the outcome.

Coakley's supporters, in turn, blamed that very environment, saying her lead dropped significantly after the Senate passed health care reform shortly before Christmas and after the Christmas Day attempted airliner bombing that Obama himself said showed a failure of his administration.

Days before the polls closed, Democrats were fingerpointing and laying blame.

Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, head of the House Democrats' campaign effort, said Coakley's loss won't deter his colleagues from continuing to blame the previous administration.

"President George W. Bush and House Republicans drove our economy into a ditch and tried to run away from the accident," he said. "President Obama and congressional Democrats have been focused repairing the damage to our economy."

At Boston's Park Plaza Hotel, giddy Republicans cheered, chanted "USA" and waved the "tea party" version of the American flag.

Even before Brown won, the grass-roots network fueled by antiestablishment frustrations, sought credit for the victory, much like the liberal MoveOn.org did in the 2006 midterm elections when Democrats rose to power.

GOP chairman Michael Steele said Brown's "message of lower taxes, smaller government and fiscal responsibility clearly resonated with independent-minded voters in Massachusetts who were looking for a solution to decades of failed Democrat leadership."

Wall Street watched the election closely. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 116 points, and analysts attributed the increase to hopes the election would make it harder for Obama to make his changes to health care. That eased investor concerns that profits at companies such as insurers and drug makers would suffer.

Across Massachusetts, voters who had been bombarded with phone calls and dizzied with nonstop campaign commercials for Coakley and Brown gave a fitting turnout despite intermittent snow and rain statewide.

Galvin, who discounted sporadic reports of voter irregularities throughout the day, predicted turnout ranging from 1.6 million to 2.2 million, 40 percent to 55 percent of registered voters. The Dec. 8 primary had a scant turnout of about 20 percent.

Voters considered national issues including health care and the federal budget deficits.

Fears about spending drove Karla Bunch, 49, to vote for Brown. "It's time for the country, for the taxpayers, to take back their money," she said. And Elizabeth Reddin, 65, voted for Brown because she said she was turned off by the Democrat's negative advertisements, saying: "The Coakley stuff was disgusting."