Brown Wins! Results of Massachusetts Special Election - Constantly Updated

UPDATE 7: Highlights from the Brown victory speech: "I bet they can hear this cheering all the way in Washington D.C." That would be the reason you were elected - he does seem to get this. "The independent voice of Massachusetts has spoken ... the independent majority has delivered a great victory." The crowd is chanting "41, 41, 41." Brown - "This Senate seat belongs to no one person, no one political party ... this is the people's seat." Crowd now chanting "seat him now." Sen. Kirk apparently willing to step aside as soon as possible. "I'm ready to go to Washington without delay." Brown is giving fairly gracious praise to Ted and Vicky Kennedy. He clearly understands the independent nature of his state.

UPDATE 6: Highlights from the Coakley concession speech: Martha Coakley concedes by saying that Brown has "... two lovely daughters." Yes, he does, but what does that have to do with anything? She appears to have only her own staffers applauding during her concession speech. "I headed out on the campaign trail for the last two days." That would explain, in part, why she lost by a larger-than-predicted margin.

UPDATE 5: Awaiting Brown's speech. Current results - Brown, 52%; Coakley, 47%; Kennedy, 1%.

UPDATE 4: Fox News is reporting the Martha Coakley has conceded. Scott Brown is maintaining at 53% with 75% of precincts reporting. AP reports the same.

UPDATE 3: With 70% of precincts reporting, the results below remain the same. Even Dems are breaking for Brown to some extent (although turnout for Dems may be low despite pleading from all in the party). Independents are overwhelmingly breaking for Brown, and largely over the health care reform debate.

UPDATE 2: Per Fox News - Brown 53%: Coakley 46%

UPDATE 1: Live blogging with reader feedback @ RealClearPolitics.com: http://realclearpolitics.blogs.time.com/2010/01/19/massachusetts-senate-race-live-blog/.

Preliminary results show Scott Brown holding on to a solid majority of votes. Updates will continue throughout the night.

They're Baaaaaack!

.... and so is the ModCon - just in time for the MA senatorial election. The next person to hold one of the two senatorial seats in Massachuetts will be decided within the hour, bickering not withstanding. While the DNC may be hoping against hope, much of the country is deciding that hope and change lie in different direction than envisioned by the administration. Should Scott Brown (the Republican candidate) win, much of the focus from the left will be on who to blame, while many on the right will focus on resurgence (even with a Brown loss).

But I think that we on the right need to focus on something else entirely. It's quite clear that, while turnout will be important in determining the outcome of the race, it is the turnout among independents that will be the most important. Lost in all the coverage is the blunt fact that the majority of voters in MA, while leaning left, are actually registered Independent. Independents are the ones who have really pushed the Brown campaign forward, and their ire has been raised against Republicans and Democrats alike. Independents were also largely responsible for Obama's win last year, and their dramatic shift away from he, and the Congressional leadership, can not necessarily be attributed to a sympathy with all things Republican. Republicans would do well to take as much of a lesson from the outcome of this election, whatever it may be, as Dems - failure to support economic revival and to protect the country will not be tolerated from anyone, regardless of party.

More will be posted as election results come in.