Arizona Senator John McCain is looking at last night's Massachusetts Senate election as the "wake-up" call that could change how business is done in the nation's capitol.
"Last night, a shot was fired around this nation ... saying no more business as usual in Washington, D.C.," McCain said on the Senate floor this morning. "Stop this unsavory sausage-making process called healthcare reform, where special favors are dispensed to special people for special reasons in order to purchase votes."
"The maverick's" optimism stems from the fact that with Scott Brown, a Republican, winning the election, it puts an end to the Democratic filibuster-proof majority in the Senate.
Brown defeated Democrat Martha Coakley last night to become the first Republican elected to that Massachusetts Senate seat since Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. won it in 1946.
The Republican win could put a halt to the controversial healthcare reform bill and Republicans -- like McCain -- feel that the victory in a highly Democratic state sends a message to Democrats that they need to change the way they are handling healthcare reform.
For example: the Nebraska Compromise, an amendment to the healthcare bill that excludes the state of Nebraska from having to pay certain Medicaid taxes and was included in the bill to garner support from Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson.
McCain may be right and a "wake-up call" may be in order -- the Nebraska Compromise has been seen as so outrageous that even Arizona's Democratic Attorney General Terry Goddard came out against it. If Goddard takes a stance on anything -- especially something his own party supports -- you know something is amiss.
