Roll over and die, because conservatives deserve permanent rule	(0 votes)
	Roll over and die, because they should be replaced by a real left-wing party	(14 votes)
	Keep watering down their policy to try to win Republican votes	(0 votes)
	Force votes on real reform measures, and make conservatives oppose it on record	(20 votes)
	Abolish the filibuster, and start delivering on their promises	(8 votes)
show votes
A total of 42 votes have been cast on this poll.

So Scott Brown won the special election in Massachusetts. The party spin on both sides will be predictable and boring. Republicans will play it up, and say it's a national verdict that Obama's radical policies have been an overreach. Democrats, if they're "centrists" they will repeat the Republican line verbatim, if they're progressives they'll say it's because they abandoned their base, and the people who actually paid attention to the race itself will notice that Martha Coakley essentially did everything wrong in her campaign, while Brown did just about everything right.

As someone in that last category, I'm more interested in what happens next, because I think how Democrats react to it will be far more consequential than the election itself.

This will test the mettle of the Democratic party and whatever leadership might exist within it. They really only have two options: fold like a cheap suit, or fight for what they were elected to do. If they decide to scrap health care reform, or try to compromise it even more, Democrats will get slaughtered, because nobody form the left will lift a finger to get them re-elected.

Obama, or whoever wants to step up and lead the Democratic party, needs say that they've gotten the message, and the message is that people want results. Go ahead and make the economy issue #1. Talk about FDR's second bill of rights. Health care should basically just be a footnote in the overall strategy to recover from the Great Recession (sort of a "by the way, now Medicare covers everyone" sort of thing).

Even if they fail to pass anything due to lockstep obstructionism from the other side, they need to try to shake things up, or they're gonna get viewed as status quo politicians, and get unceremoniously kicked out of office.