Fact or fiction? Mass. vote key to health reform

Claim: The Massachusetts Senate election will be a referendum on the Democrats' insurance overhaul.

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On Tuesday, Massachusetts voters are choosing a senator to fill the unexpired term of Sen. Edward Kennedy, who died last year. Republican Scott Brown, a state senator, is vying with Democrat Martha Coakley, the state attorney general, and with independent Joseph Kennedy, (no relation to Sen. Kennedy). No Republican has won a Senate seat in Massachusetts in 38 years. But polls show a tight race between Brown and Coakley. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said Sunday that the election "is, in effect, a referendum on the national health care bill which the Democrats, in secret, are trying to work out now." He said, "If it's unpopular in Massachusetts, it's unpopular everywhere."

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCBP leaders cut out of Trump ad buy decision

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAmerican passenger drafted goodbye texts to her family as Flydubai plane plummeted

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation pushes embattled New York prosecutor into national spotlight

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAbdul El-Sayed tries to woo MAHA voters as Democrats seek inroads with RFK’s supporters

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKratom-like substances are popping up in a typically benign supplement

FOR SUBSCRIBERSGOP super PAC increases its spending for Sen. Jon Husted in tough Ohio race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRecords reveal tumultuous marriage between slain New York Times executive and wife

FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrom clean energy warrior to ‘wall of shame,’ James Talarico reverses on a fossil fuel money pledge

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCongressional staff planned official trip with luxury stops in Italy and France weeks before election

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKey DOJ lawyers departed Trump ‘grand conspiracy’ probe amid pressure to produce, source says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump’s new AI chatbot often links to a site launched under Clinton 26 years ago

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAt MAHA summit, industry CEOs the movement once vilified take the stage

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThis Paralympian has two goals: Win medals and give away $500,000 to her teammates

Fact or fiction?
A little of both. Other than an actual referendum -- a ballot initiative on which voters directly have their say -- no election is strictly speaking a referendum on one issue. In his campaign, Brown emphasized issues other than health insurance, such as cutting taxes and not giving constitutional protection to alleged terrorists, as well as his opposition to the insurance bill. But Brown said flatly, "I would be the 41st vote (against moving to a final vote on the Democrats' bill). I would actually stop it." Democrats seem to agree: "If Scott Brown wins, it'll kill the health bill," Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., said. Asked in a Suffolk University poll last week about the bill, Massachusetts voters were evenly split, with 47 percent in favor and 48 percent opposed. But 61 percent said the nation couldn't afford to pay for the Democrats' insurance reform.

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