Larry Kudlow shares my concern about whether the GOP leadership understands the lesson of the Miracle in Massachusetts. And he notes that Scott Brown owes much of his success to campaigning as a JFK Republican:

… Are the Republicans listening? Do they really understand why Scott Brown was victorious? If they do, why aren’t members of the Republican leadership loudly campaigning for an end to tax hikes, just like Scott Brown?

…

Remember that Brown ran on a JFK/Ronald Reagan platform of across-the-board tax cuts to promote economic growth. Take a look at what the senator-elect had to say during his victory speech Tuesday night:

This [health care] bill is not being debated openly and fairly. It will raise taxes, it will hurt Medicare, it will destroy jobs and run our nation deeper into debt . . . I will work in the Senate to put the government back on the side of people who create jobs and the millions of people who need jobs. And remember, as President John F. Kennedy stated, that starts with across-the-board tax cuts for businesses and families to create jobs, put more money in people’s pockets, and stimulate the economy. It’s that simple.

There you have it. Scott Brown could not have been any clearer. That’s the great thing about his message — its breathtaking clarity. Across-the-board tax cuts and a revival of free-market capitalism on the supply-side.

…

A recent Washington Post poll showed that by 58 to 38 percent, voters want smaller government and fewer government services. This, too, should be the Republican congressional message.

It is, in fact, an economic-growth message, the likes of which we haven’t heard since Jack Kemp promoted it in the late 1970s. And the brilliance of Scott Brown was to use the JFK tax cuts — an across-the-board reduction in marginal tax rates — to attract Democrats and independents to his message.

An across-the-board tax cut is the fairest pro-growth message of them all. Lower tax rates for everybody. Get out of the box of rich people and class warfare. For the Ted Kennedy Democrats, that box has been a loser for decades. But for timid Republicans always on the defensive, now is the time to break out and adopt the Scott Brown theme.

This is what Reagan did. This is why the Gipper touted JFK’s across-the-board tax cuts. Republicans must now be bold and fight for across-the-board tax relief, for families, individuals, and businesses, along with smaller government, fewer services, and across-the-board spending cuts.

That's what the Republican leadership should be talking about: across-the-board tax and spending cuts, not across-the-aisle deal-making. If they want to present a less partisan image, let them embrace the optimistic, pro-growth message of both Reagan and JFK — "across-the-board tax cuts for businesses and families to create jobs, put more money in people’s pockets, and stimulate the economy." Let them embrace JFK Republicanism.

I think that would resonate with voters. And drive the Democrats crazy. 🙂

Last week, I worried about a tight Senate race in Massachusetts, recalling Hugh Hewitt's mantra, "If it's not close, they can't cheat." Today, a huge voter turnout decisively handed "the people's seat" to Republican Scott Brown. In a state that Obama carried by 26%, where only 12% of voters are registered Republicans, and with two million votes cast, Brown leads by over 140,000 votes (with 98% of precincts reporting).

Hoo-rah!

But will the Democrats learn from this stunning repudiation of their agenda by the bluest of blue states? It doesn't sound like it. Earlier today, Nancy Pelosi insisted that they will get Obamacare done before a new senator can be seated. Administration spokespeople are insisting this race wasn't about health care — even though Brown's most-repeated campaign line was "I'm the 41st vote" against a government takeover of health care, and the President himself campaigned for Coakley, emphasizing the health care issue.

Earlier tonight on Fox News, Juan Williams reported that his White House sources are telling him the President is going to "double down."

After the 1994 election, a chastened Bill Clinton learned his lesson, tacked to the center, declared "the era of big government is over," and joined the Republicans in ending welfare as we knew it. The signs suggest that President Obama and at least some of the Democratic leadership are not similarly willing to listen to the voices of the people. They're either too arrogant or too rabidly ideological.

I'm of two minds about that. On the one hand, if the Dems persist in their hubris, they're likely to face an unprecedented thumping in November, and that would be great. On the other hand, if they push through government-controlled health care and some of their other pet socialist schemes, it will be difficult to undo the damage they do to the country. Too many timid Republicans.

Speaking of Republicans, there's a lesson in this election for them, too. Some Democratic analysts have pointed out that Brown isn't a conservative, and that's true to a degree. He's certainly not a social conservative. He's pro-choice, and he didn't campaign at all on conservatives' pet social issues.

But Brown campaigned as a rock-solid fiscal conservative — cut taxes, cut spending, stop the "stimulus" and "bailout" nonsense, and abort the Democrats' headlong rush to turn this country into a European-style sclerotic social welfare state, with the resulting permanent low growth and high unemployment.

That's the message that will carry Republicans to victory this fall. Wearing their religion on their sleeves and making abortion and gay marriage the centerpieces of their campaigns won't work. Timid, McCain-style "moderate Republicanism," ready to "reach across the aisle" and standing for nothing won't work, either.

Last year, pseudo-conservative pundits like David Brooks declared "the era of Reagan is over." In fact, Reaganism is exactly what the Republican Party needs to embrace — less government, lower taxes, individual liberty, American exceptionalism, and optimism for the future. That's how they beat Carter, and that's how they can beat today's Carter-squared Democrats. That's the message that, if clearly articulated and proudly embraced, resonates with everyone from rock-ribbed conservatives to moderate Democrats. And that's a decisive majority — even in Massachusetts.

From the non-partisan Rothenberg Political Report:

Democratic desperation and other compelling evidence strongly suggest that Democrats may well lose the late Senator Edward Kennedy’s Senate seat in Tuesday’s special election. Because of this, we are moving our rating of the race from Narrow Advantage for the Incumbent Party to Toss-Up.

Whatever the shortcomings of the Coakley campaign (and they certainly exist), this race has become about change, President Obama and Democratic control of all of the levers of power in Washington, D.C. Brown has “won” the “free media” over the past few days, and if he continues to do so, he will win the election.

Late Democratic efforts to demonize Republican Scott Brown, to make the race into a partisan battle and to use the Kennedy name to drive Democratic voters to the polls could still work. But the advertising clutter in the race works against them, and voters often tune out late messages, which can seem desperate.

UPDATE: Rothenberg's analysis (I misspelled his name earlier and have corrected it) is confirmed by the latest poll results (emphasis added): 

Republican Senate candidate Scott Brown has surged ahead of his Democratic opponent Martha Coakley, according to a new poll released Thursday night.

Brown leads Coakley by a margin of 50 percent to 46 percent, the Suffolk University/WHDH-TV poll found. It is the first poll to show Brown, who had been thought a long-shot underdog, leading the race.

It raises the possibility of an historic political upset in Massachusetts.

“It’s a massive change in the political landscape,” David Paleologos, director of Suffolk’s Political Research Center, told The Boston Herald.

Paleologos told the newspaper that the poll shows high numbers of independent voters turning out on election day, which benefits Brown, who has 65 percent of independents compared to Coakley’s 30 percent.

That's great news! But I hope the Brown campaign has lots of lawyers and poll watchers at the ready. Hugh Hewitt famously said, in a book of that name, "If it's not close, they can't cheat." The flip side is: if it's close, they can — and will — cheat.