Call it the Massachusetts Miracle. Call it the massacre. Call it the end of the Kennedy dynasty. Call it the shot heard 'round the world. Whatever its name, there is no mistake that Republican Scott Brown's win over Democrat Martha Coakley in the special election for the U. S. Senate is significant. The race wasn't even close enough for the Democrats to justify bringing in lawyers to file lawsuits and keep recounting until the Democrat comes out ahead. But just how significant the win is for Republicans remains to be seen. But no doubt, a Republican win in the most liberal, bluest of blue states is big.

I can imagine Democrats will come up with ways to diminish the significance of the results of this special election, to make it something other than the issues. They will say Martha Coakley was a bad candidate. They will say it was because she called former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling a "Yankee fan". Or maybe they will blame her reluctance to engage in face-to-face contact with voters. They will say the election turned on a clever line uttered by Scott Brown in a debate, "With all due respect, this is not the Kennedy seat. It's not the Democrats' seat. It's the people's seat."

Each of these events were factors, to be sure. But Brown was effective at tapping into frustrations of the people, and conveying to them his resolve to be a vote in the U. S. Senate for freedom and opportunity for the people. Even in Massachusetts, the people know an overreaching government when they see it. And they saw in Scott Brown a refreshing change from the status quo. They saw an opportunity to register their protest against a liberal Democrat leadership in Washington that has lurched too far to the left.

Interesting days in D. C. are sure to follow, leading all the way up to Election Day in November. Republiicans everywhere will remember the Scott Brown, and the GOP rallying cry this fall may very well be, "Massachusetts: If we can do it there, we can do it anywhere!"