Could Massachussetts Elect a Republican to Kennedy's Seat?

Last night's Rasmussen poll in Massachussetts found that Republican Scott Brown was only 9% behind the Democratic candidate in the race to replace Ted Kennedy, which will be done by special election later this month.  For Massachussetts, replacing a Kennedy, that's a pretty remarkable number--and the one thing Rasmussen does relatively well at is predicting electoral results.  The people who will definitely vote only went for Democrats by 2%.  This with a candidate who has so far gotten little support from the national party.

Instpundit is inspiring readers to give to his online fundraising, and if I were the GOP, I'd be thinking about pouring some money into this race.  Turning Kennedy's seat would pretty much kill health care reform, I imagine, and even making it a close race might send a message to nervous senators about how Massachussetts voters view its health care reform.

It's a very long shot--Massachussetts is, well, Massachussetts.  But given the stakes, it's a gamble I'd certainly take if I were someone senior at the RNC.

On the other hand, that's probably one of the many reasons why I'm not someone senior at the RNC.