Brown is the new blue

The biggest loser from Tuesday's special election? Ironically, Mitt Romney. Massachusetts sent a strong message that they think his universal health care plan sucks, and weren't about to foist it on the rest of the country. After bragging about the plan's success in the op-ed pages and on the campaign trail both Romney and his Democratic successor, Deval Patrick, failed to mention one major fly in the ointment–insurance premiums are the highest of any state in the country. The Republican front runner for 2012 fell far back when the smoke cleared Wednesday morning.

The biggest winner? Of course, Scott Brown, not just for his Senate win, but for the stratospheric rise in his national profile (Sarah Palin must be fuming). One pundit is already calling for Brown to give the Republicans' response to the president's State of the Union address, which strategically makes sense, but let's hope he's better prepared than Bobby Jindal (after last year's response, a friend referred to Jindal as Kenneth from 30 Rock). It's the perfect platform to explain why the health care bill is so bad; why a special tax for TARP recipients is so bad; why the current bill to overhaul financial services is so bad; etc. With a name like Brown's, people might actually stick around to listen.