The Curious Case of Scott Brown (w/UPDATE)

A new conservative celebrity has been born seemingly overnight in one of the unlikeliest of places – Massachusetts.  Not even so much the state, but the position he is fighting for is the most surprising of turns – Ted Kennedy’s old Senate seat. The audacity of a Republican to even venture out and try to win this seat is incredible.  A few months ago, Scott Brown received the nomination mostly because no one wanted to run for a meaningless cause.  But in the run-up to a Martha Coakley victory tour something surprising happened; Brown started turning around polls that he was initially down 10-20 points and has made this race a dead heat.  At FiveThirtyEight, their data analysis now shows Brown with a 55% chance of being victorious tomorrow night. So what is the cultural and political importance of this race for what was once the liberal-est of seats?  ***SINCE THIS WAS POSTED, FiveThirtyEight has revised their prediction after the release of some new updated polls showing Coakley in an even worse position.  Nate Silver now predicts the race as a Lean GOP, with 74% chance of going to Brown.

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