California officials and political soothsayers have been warning that a Martha Coakley loss in Massachusetts could have wide-ranging "ripple effects" for elections on the west coast.
For [Senator] Boxer, a favorite Republican target, a GOP win in Massachusetts would be a particularly dark sign representing "not just the canary in the coal mine," said Wade Randlett, a leading Silicon Valley fundraiser for Obama. "It's the flock of dead ravens landing on the lawn."And this from San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom:
We better get our act together - and quickly. Voters are so angry. They don't feel that we're paying attention to their needs, in terms of their jobs.Today, with the votes counted, San Francisco Chronicle's Carla Marinucci gave her take on how Republicans running against Boxer, including former Rep. Tom Campbell, former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, and Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, are reacting to the news: "Their message: it's on."
She notes that Campbell was first out the box saying he was ready to take Boxer on and address "the suicidal direction Congress and the President are taking our economy."
And, finally, Sherry Greenberg, writing for the California Majority Report provided this analysis on Senator Feinstein, before the winner was announced:
Additionally, if Scott Brown defeats Coakley, I suspect that the resulting change in the Senate may cause a certain Senator from California to give much more serious consideration to a gubernatorial run. Senator Feinstein may have been loathe to leave a Senate where Democrats hold, even if tenuously, a filibuster-proof majority and where she enjoys significant power and responsibility. However, the loss of Kennedy's seat and the resulting Senate gridlock might well tip the balance in Feinstein's deliberations regarding a 2010 gubernatorial run. Why would Feinstein want to stay in the, likely, more toxic environment of the Senate and forgo her last chance to fulfill her dream of being California's first female governor? Will Feinstein really want to cede that distinction to Meg Whitman?However it turns out, the MA loss will have an enormous impact on the 2010 cycle. Whether it's a game changer election-wise remains to be seen
