For the first time in many years, there’s political upheaval in the state of Massachusetts.  After the late Senior Senator Ted Kennedy passed away last year, the race for his seat in Washington is heating up.  Democrat Martha Coakley summoned the powers (seems like 2009 was the year he lost his powers, like in Spiderman 2) of President Obama this past weekend to ask voters of one of the most liberal states in the country not to buy into the populist fervor and anger of the moment and elect a strong left-leaning Democrat to fill Kennedy’s shoes.  Obama told the crowd that the Republican camp has been sitting back, letting the Dems make the tough choices, and taking advantage of the economic crisis to make Democrats in power the political “fall guy” during harsh times.  Across the state, looking positively crisp (almost the guy should be on General Hospital), Coakley’s Republican rival Scott Brown took the stage at nearly the same time of the day to tap into that populism that only seems to be growing (even in New England states like Massachusetts).  Brown did so by referring to the “Democrat machine”, and rolling out lines and phrases that almost define populism.  “This Senate seat does not belong to no one person and no one political party – it belongs to the people of Massachusetts,” he repeated in what has become the mantra for the Brown campaign.  He also promised independents — perhaps the most vital aspect of any political race — that he’d be working for them by using terms like “your Senator” and speaking as if disgusted with the current political status-quo.  But the Brown campaign is no Rage Against the Machine or MC5.  It’s a savvy bunch of suits who’re looking to cash in on a vacant seat and political unrest.  None of these people, Democrat or Republican, got to where they’re at by going against the grain of Washington.  Which is why populism, by definition, is a pretty ironic notion when it comes to politics.  No politician really is a “populist”; if they were, they wouldn’t be a politician.

-:D