Except that MA is elastic, not Alabama.
MA is "elastic" as some would say, but not very much so at the federal level. Before Scott Brown, the last Republican Senator we sent to DC was in 1948. Even our popular Governor, Bill Weld, who won reelection with 70% of the vote, lost to John Kerry in 1996. Scott Brown won because turnout was in his favor, and he was running against a laughably bad opponent. He won by 5 points with less votes than Mitt Romney lost by 23 points with in 2012. Elasticity doesn't mean much in special elections.
