Massachusetts Mid-Terms – Democrats Hold Commonwealth – GOP First Timers Show Impressive Margins - Analysis

The Nation's Results: Historic Gains in House - CNN Map

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts remained somewhat reliably Democrat in the 2010 mid-terms, with the majority of State and Federal offices held by incumbents. However, for the first time in decades, the Democrats in the Commonwealth were forced to defend their districts, with returns on Congressional races showing much narrower margins of victory than projected by pundits. The results shown on the Boston Globe’s website here with the majority of precincts reporting Congressional races shows the gap between the political ideology of the Commonwealths populace has narrowed significantly over the elections held in 2008. In the MA2 District, Richard Neal (with 91% reporting) won the district by 18% over, first-time GOP candidate Tom Wesley who garnered 40% of the vote. In the MA4, Barney Frank won by only 11% over Republican Sean Bielat and the 10th District Open Seat went to the Democrat Bill Keating by 5% over Republican Jeff Perry. The balance of the 9 Congressional Seats show similar results with few exceptions, with much narrower margins than previous House elections.


Massachusetts Resuts Show MA GOP Voter Growth - Map Boston Globe

What is most remarkable is that in the MA2, the race was played out with grassroots ground games only and little spent on adverting by the GOP challenger, Wesley. The MA2 did not get the national attention that races in the 4th and 10th districts enjoyed, with GOP challengers filling impressive war chests from citizens nationwide. Few PACS weighed in with the exception of Mitt Romney’s as far as Bay State GOP races were concerned. Therefore, with a significant gap in funds, Tom Wesley forced Richard Neal to fight for his Congressional Seat, and took not 25% of the vote, but 40%. One has to understand that what Wesley accomplished was twofold: one, he made gains in uncharted waters against a 22 year entrenched Democrat who was vying for the Chair of the House Ways and Means Committee. Neal was forced to spend his war chest, not on Democrat races in districts far from the Bay State, where House Democrats nationwide faced defeat. The same can be said of those who faced similar financing and lack of national press; Jon Golnik in the 5th District, Bill Hudak in the 6th, Marty Lamb in the 3rd and Bill Gun in the 1st – running ground games and scratching for the national spotlight when the pundits and Conservative activities nationwide barely glanced at those races. The National GOP owes all of these players a debt of gratitude, and now, with the results in, 2012 might get a bit more uncomfortable for those districts.

The Governor’s office was held by Deval Patrick with a little help from Democrat turned independent Tim Cahill, who took a surprising 8% of the 97% currently reporting in , leaving Republican Baker short by exactly 8 points necessary to best Patrick. One can view the results are hardly a mandate for Patrick, who garnered 49% of the vote.

Although a victory is still a victory, it is not without a little pride in the citizens of the State who stood up and voted with the GOP in a strong showing, specifically as Progressive Democrat Community Organizations were out in force in the final days before the election, focusing on low income and “immigrant” populations across the State to get out and vote. In Western Massachusetts, the Alliance to Develop Power whose focus appears to be immigration reform, and Neighbor To Neighbor, whose focus appears to be “Voter Empowerment”, got out the vote with slogans such as "Today is the Day, Defend What’s Yours."

Although the Progressives Democrats who helped Richard Neal, Barney Frank, Deval Patrick and a significant number of Commonwealth House and Senate groups maintain their seats, again, it was a scramble in the the finals days to counter the startling increase in voters turning to the GOP.

The results overall results were, however, historic, as nationwide the GOP took the house in an “historical sweep” (CNN) while coming in within 4 Seats of taking the Senate.

That trend was evident in Massachusetts, and as the process begins for 2012, one can guarantee that although down today, the MA GOP cannot be counted out. In a following statement released by MA GOP chair, Jennifer Nassour, speaks to the fact that, gains were made, but it is not an overnight process:

“Tonight the Massachusetts Republican Party made significant gains in the Legislature. Changing the color of Massachusetts to purple won't happen overnight. The important fact is that entrenched incumbents, who often fly beneath the radar, had to stand up to public scrutiny this election cycle. I’m proud of our GOP candidates who worked hard and focused on important issues like creating jobs, lowering taxes, and reducing government spending.”

IRS Say No to ACORN as Tax Advisors after being Caught on Tape – IRS Misses Tax Liens on Organization for Non-Payment of Withholding Taxes.

The many facets of ACORN - volunteers/employees at Town Hall Meetings Supporting Health Care Reform image:indyreader.org

More in the ACORN saga - the Internal Revenue Service had previously allowed ACORN to volunteer its services as tax advisors – it is now removing them from the volunteer list. Apparently, the video’s that surfaced regarding ACORN offices in multiple states, in multiple areas of the country, giving advice to prostitutes and pimps on how to evade taxes and while “employing” underage children smuggled into the country, was the last straw. ACORN provided assistance on approximately 25,000 tax returns, according to the IRS – one wonders if those would be under review – given the circumstances. Apparently, ACORN has been served with Federal and State Tax Liens, (documents here) for non-payment of employee withholding taxes. The IRS has yet to make any statements regarding that “oversight.”

Federal Tax Lien filed against ACORN

While one must understand that the original intent of the organization is noble (Community Organization devoted to aiding the poor in regards to housing), the criminal abuses coming from so many employees of this non-profit, publicly funded organization, are rife. One has to wonder, with so many highly paid employees at the top, with the ability to hire and recruit employees and volunteer that would be well-vetted and able to follow guidelines, how these non-isolated instances can possibly be attributed to an anomaly. In the case of most corporations, bad management and policy is made at the top. It appears that after having been caught red handed, and losing Federal Funds, their position within the Census and now their ability to play with peoples tax returns, a complete restructuring from the top down would be in order. That might include the IRS as well, considering the organizations inability to track the fact that an organization working for them has outstanding Federal tax liens (let alone, State Liens). This could be construed as a product of Big Government.