Left In Lowell

Dick Howe (and his son in comments) have some numbers. Looking town by town (so far), the MA Republicans didn’t really increase (very much - in the range of 3-4%) their voter turnout. So what this means is, they were able to capitalize on Dems staying home. Hardly a Big Red Angry Wave.

If this analysis holds true statewide (and the sampling was pretty wide in Dick’s post and comments), this means a couple of things…first, the Republicans still have a ceiling, and it’s about the same ceiling they had in 08, and given a few numbers Andrew threw out on Facebook as well, not a great deal more than Romney in ‘02 either.

Second is that the big danger for state Dems is not keeping up the enthusiasm of your own people (D’s and D-leaners), which holds some cause for nervousness…but also shows us a path to consistent Democratic victory should we put the work in and run great candidates.

So, get involved and find great candidates!

We could all (well, those of us on the losing side anyway) use a little funny in our day.

Crooks and Liars provides.

Hat tip to Mr. Lynne sitting across the room over there.

A very prescient Move On polled people yesterday on why the Obama-Brown voter voted (or didn’t vote) the way they did. The polling outfit they used, Research 2000, is a reputable firm, before you get your whine on. The poll points out that this loss by the Democrats isn’t a message of “whoa, slow down Democrats! You’re too liberal!” It was more of a “hey!! Where’d that public option go? Idiots!” message.

HEALTH CARE BILL OPPONENTS THINK IT “DOESN’T GO FAR ENOUGH”

* by 3 to 2 among Obama voters who voted for Brown
* by 6 to 1 among Obama voters who stayed home

(18% of Obama supporters who voted supported Brown.)

VOTERS OVERWHELMINGLY SUPPORT THE PUBLIC OPTION

* 82% of Obama voters who voted for Brown
* 86% of Obama voters who stayed home

OBAMA VOTERS WANT DEMOCRATS TO BE BOLDER

* 57% of Brown voters say Obama “not delivering enough” on change he promised
* 49% to 37% among voters who stayed home

PLUS: Obama voters overwhelming want bold economic populism from Democrats in 2010.

So, before the storyline becomes about how Dems need to moderate and govern from the center, let’s makes sure we take into account the reality, okay?

Sure, we were hoping to have a victory podcast today with Mass Democratic Party Chair John Walsh, but we’re plucky Dems and move on fast. We’ll chat about what this election means, and what’s to come, on Left Ahead’s live podcast today at 2:30pm. If you miss it live, you can always catch an archive at our website. Join hosts Mike of Massmarrier, Ryan of Ryan’s Take and myself as we dust ourselves off and look ahead.

I know that most of us are still discussing and focusing on the Massachusetts Senate election but last night the Lowell City Council reversed the decision made by the previous CC last June and restored funding for the position of Assistant City Manager.

I was not surprised by the decision but was by the vote: 8-1 with CC Rodney Elliott as the only dissenting vote. That was a bit of a surprise on two counts: one, both CC R. Mercier and B. Caulfield who voted to defund the position last year voted to refund the position. The second surprise was the line of argument CC Elliott presented in explaining his decision. He is concerned that this May/June when the new budget is presented we may need to do some more cuts/layoffs.

The City Manager made the case why we, the City, needs this position in order to move forward and last year’s municipal election reflected the voters desire to do just that.

In today’s Sun, in Jen Myers’ article on this vote, she quotes CM Lynch on his search for the right individual to become his assistant: “I am having very focused discussions with one individual…We just need to finalize some things and hopefully we will be able to make an announcement on that in a few days.”

Here is my prediction, on Friday CM Lynch tells Jen (:-) who he is selected and it appears as a breaking news on Friday’s web site and full story on Saturday. Best wishes and good luck to the new Assistant C.M.

I will post a video clip of the discussion as soon as LTC uploads to blip.tv. Also, the Wallgreen issue moved forward. I will write about later this evening. The fight is not over.