Valley vote goes to Coakley, but Brown takes big prize

By Owen Boss and Chad Cain

Staff Writers

Perhaps Tuesday's watershed election for Massachusetts politics in which a Republican candidate won a U.S. Senate seat for the first time in nearly 40 years hinged on voters like Terie Fleury.

The South Hadley resident had never held a political sign on a rainy street corner for hours like she did Tuesday afternoon, or spent an entire weekend day cold-calling potential voters on behalf of a candidate.

Then along came Scott Brown and his upstart - and to the surprise of the nation, successful - campaign to replace the late Edward M. Kennedy. Suddenly, Fleury found herself doing all of those things and more for the Brown campaign.

"I'm just excited about Scott Brown. The stakes are too high right now," said Fleury.

She became one of thousands of people who helped Brown pull off one of the biggest political upsets in state history. Once thought of as little more than a stepping stone for Democrat Martha Coakley, the state's attorney general, Brown was able to tap into voter dissatisfaction and ride the wave of national unrest regarding health care reform.

The state senator from Wrentham bested Coakley by 5 percentage points - 52 to 47 - statewide, with 99 percent of precincts reporting.

Hampshire County, though, followed a different path from the rest of the state, voting for Coakley by a wide margin.

--How the Valley voted: Town-by-town numbers

A jubilant crowd of about 75 Brown supporters gathered at the Sandcastle Lounge in Holyoke to celebrate the historic win, at times cheering Republican leaders and mocking Democratic leaders who appeared on television.

Kevin Jourdain, chairman of Western Mass Republicans, a public action committee that represents Republicans in Hampshire and Hampden counties, called the win "huge."

"This is going to put some serious balance back in the congressional delegation," he said. "I think we are now going to move toward a more independent way of thinking in Washington."

He said Democrats in other states should take stock of Brown's win before they "keep walking off the cliff."

A much more subdued gathering of about 75 Coakley supporters watched the results at Paradise City Tavern in Northampton. The crowd let out a loud gasp when Ray Drewnowski, political director of the Pioneer Valley Young Democrats and a member of the Coakley campaign, announced shortly after 9 p.m. that Coakley had ceded the race to Brown. Most in the crowd quietly began filing out of the bar.

Dave Sullivan, an Easthampton resident sporting a Coakley sticker on his shirt, was "extremely disappointed."

"I think we need Martha Coakley in the Senate to bring progressive change to the state and I don't think Scott Brown is the senator who can do that," he said.

Health care key

Like voters statewide, health care was on the minds of most Hampshire County voters who braved a steady bout of snow and rain to weigh in on the issue.

Losing Kennedy's seat deals a serious blow to President Barack Obama's health care bill, the top domestic priority of his first year in office. Democrats need 60 Senate votes to cut off debate on the legislation, which is exactly how many they got last month.

Brown opposes the bill, which is the main reason Aaron Blodgett, 29, of Amherst, voted for him.

"I really would not like to see health care turned into an American right," said Blodgett, 29. "I don't want certain decisions to be made by government, like how much we are going to spend for someone to live on extended care, abortions, a right to cosmetic surgery or sex change operations. These are not things we are able to deal with as a country."

On the other side of the debate stood Luba Reep, 82, of Amherst. She voted for Coakley because of her support of Obama's plan.

"I think I would have voted anyhow, but, with the 60 votes, it is especially important," Reep said. "It's important to have (health care) passed. I think many people are not covered."

South Hadley's Robert Judge and Mike Fisher supported Coakley in large part because of her support for the direction Obama is taking the nation, in particular the effort to reform health care.

Fleury, the Brown supporter from South Hadley, also believes that health care reform is crucial, but she has major questions about Obama's bill, ranging from the "shenanigans" it has taken to push the deal through and the hefty price tag.

"We must slow down Congress and rethink the health care bill," she said. "There should be health care reform, but not at this price."

Amanda Huhmann, 28, of Amherst, said she started following the race more closely once it became clear that it was going to be competitive. She speculated that Brown had closed the gap on Coakley with a more aggressive campaign that established him as presence throughout the state. Conversely, she said, the Coakley campaign seemed to act as though it had the election in the bag.

"Even in Massachusetts, you can't do that," she said.

Many Brown supporters throughout Hampshire County said they were hungry for change in the Senate. Pam Boice, 54, of Easthampton, said the country is moving "too far to the left," and a Brown win could help change that.

"I think Scott Brown will be elected because people are tired of the whole Kennedy thing," said Bob Gallentine, 63. "People want change; they want something different."

Michael Portno, of South Hadley, said he is tired of politicians who don't listen. Brown is different, he believes.

"He's echoing what I'm feeling," Portno said. "My voice is not being heard right now ... he's saying the things I say over my kitchen table."

At the Northampton Senior Center, voters seemed to be more supportive of Coakley.

Drew Spring, 30, was concerned a Brown win would break up the Democrats' 60 vote majority in the Senate and halt progress on a variety of issues.

"If Brown does get in, he'll bog down the Senate and nothing will get done," he said.

Few voters were swayed by the deluge of advertising over the last week of the campaign.

In Hadley, at Hopkins Academy, Penny Mahoney, said she cast her vote for the candidate she always felt would best represent the Bay State, regardless of the media blitz.

"I voted for who I thought would take the country in the direction I think it needs to go in," Mahoney said.

At Munson Memorial Library on South East Street in Amherst, Susan Abdow followed the same logic.

"I would have voted in a Senate election anyway," Abdow said, adding that after following coverage of the tight race and seeing the candidates' commercials on television, she knew that her vote really counted. "If I had any doubt about whether I would be voting beforehand, they changed my mind."