Alaskans should watch Massachusetts election: there'€™s much on the line

Alaskans are found of saying we don’t care how they do it Outside. Today, our eyes should fixated on a special election in Massachusetts where a Senate seat is on the line.

For nearly a half-century, Sen. Ted Kennedy held that job and nobody could imagine it any other way. Then Kennedy died. Even with that turn of events, Democrats figured they had a lock on it.

Turns out there’s a dead-even battle going into this election with Martha Coakley, a Democrat, facing Republican Scott Brown.

Coakley once had a lead in double digits, but now pollsters say the race is too close to call.

Why should Alaskans care? The same reason every American should.

If Scott wins, he has vowed to stop the health care bill in its tracks. That’s because the Democrats would no longer have a super majority in the Senate. Instead of 60 votes they would only have 59. Remember how some senators sold their votes for the good of their states? That’s how high the stakes are in Washington, D.C.

The stakes are high enough that President Obama stopped by Boston to campaign for Coakley, but some political analysts are saying that might be a double-edged sword given his eroding popularity numbers. Bill Clinton was campaigning there as well.

To give some perspective, Massachusetts’ 10 House seats are all held by Democrats.

A Brown victory could indicate problems down the road for Democrats everywhere because if they lose that hallowed seat to a Republican in one of the most liberal states in the nation, what does that bode for other states?

It’s a sign of the times that people are beginning to change their thinking and taking to the streets to express it.

If Brown sits where Kennedy once sat, the message will be loud and clear on Beacon Hill and at the nation’s capitol.

A Brown win would also put salt in an old wound: Kennedy was the torchbearer for years in trying get health care reform. Just when it was in his grasp, he wasn’t there to help shape the reform. His colleagues say he would have been a negotiator, trying to get as much as he could without throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Now, his health reform baby is in danger of not passing.

If you want health care changes, cheer on Coakley. If you are wary of reform, Brown’s your guy.

All of us should be concerned about what happens Outside, at least today in Massachusetts.