Today all eyes are on the State of Massachusetts and their special election to fill the Senate seat previously held by the late Ted Kennedy as Democrat State Attorney General Martha Coakley faces off against Republican State Senator Scott Brown.

No two ways about it this is a high stakes election that is being cited as everything from the decisive event regarding health care reform legislation to a referendum on the Obama administration to a clear signal as to which way the voter winds will blow in the upcoming midterm elections this November.  I’ve been following politics for more than forty years and honestly can not remember any individual state election getting this much attention.

That having been said the strange circumstances of this election could easily fill a cheap paperback you’d read read in about two hours.  I’ll try to sum them up in one paragraph:

Coakley said that there were no more terrorists in Afghanistan.  Brown said that funding for a golf course was in the best interests of Massachusetts.  Coakley misspelled Massachusetts in one of her ads.  Brown drives a pickup truck.  Coakley doesn’t like that Brown drives a pickup truck.  Brown’s daughter Ayla was a Season 5 finalist on American Idol (Paula really like her but Simon didn’t).  Coakley is in trouble with some voters for taking a vacation in the middle of her campaign.  Brown is in trouble with some voters for mixing the sensitive issues of religion and emergency room hospital care.  In the final innings Brown called in Curt Schilling from the bullpen.  In the final innings Coakley called in Barack Obama from the bullpen who apparently doesn’t like Brown’s pickup truck either.  Brown’s people say a high turnout is good for them.  Coakley’s people say a high turn out is good for them.  Brown’s history includes posing semi-nude for Cosmo 28 years ago.  Coakley’s history includes calling Curt Schilling a Yankee fan last Friday night.

Now really, doesn’t all this make Obama - McCain look kind of boring?  I think we need an election like this with these sorts of candidates every January just to help us through the cold weather.

Today’s national coverage seems to be an early postmortem that Coakley and the Democrats blew it big time and will lose this particular Senate seat previously held by both John and Ted Kennedy for the first time since 1952.  If that happens Brown will be referred to as the Republican Senator from the State of Massachusetts.  I don’t know, just the sound of that still seems like an oxymoron to me.

Grab a Sam Adams and pull up a chair.  It’s going to be interesting tonight.