TPM Reader JC checks in from the Red Sox Nation on MA-Sen …
I’m a huge MA/NY/CT Democrat. And a huge Red Sox fan. I listen to WEEI online all the time (weei.com); it’s the hugely popular Boston sports radio. Every regular sports guy/gal in Mass and greater New England listens to WEEI. They’ve been talking about the election all day today, and they’ll be talking about it all day tomorrow. 8 out of 10 daily WEEI radio hosts is a huge Republican. They’ve hated Kennedy for years, and there’s always been a lot of Mass voters itching to unseat Kennedy anyway. They/we resent being told what to do. Add that up with the Tea Baggers, and tomorrow is going to be a massive whiplash against Democrats. I predict a landslide for Scott Brown. 10+ points.
A lot of the politics in Mass is resentment-based and provincial; resenting the Frasier Crane snobs at Harvard is a pasttime, and rejecting outsiders is a matter of course (John Henry and the other Red Sox Owners were vehemently rejected by the Boston masses for the first year or two, because they won the team over a Mass native (Frank McCourt)). Why Obama didn’t plunk himself down in Northampton yesterday to immediately End Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is beyond me. He’s been neglecting his base with almost a sense of disdain, as he tries to cozy up to Republicans for some unknown, fruitless reason. Clearly, it doesn’t win over Independents like it did in 2008. Annointing Limbaugh as the head of the Republicans 12 months ago was too cute by half. They arrogantly played with fire, and ceded the angry male, sports-radio-listening independent voter to the Right. Collossal mistake.
