What if the successor to Ted Kennedy were someone who did not vote for ObamaCare, leaving Dems with a 59–vote majority?

That prospect isn’t as implausible as it once seemed in that most liberal of states, as Republican Scott Brown has closed to within striking distance of Democrat Martha Coakley in the January 19 special election.

A Boston Globe survey released this weekend showed Ms. Coakley with a 15-point lead, but a survey by the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling found the race a dead heat, with Mr. Brown up 48% to 47%.

The scary prospect for Democrats is that the race is even this close on their home ideological turf, and turnout is always difficult to predict in special elections.

Oh to be in Massachusetts, now that a Republican might win.

See also at the Washington Examiner:

* Michael Barone: Wow! Republican leads in Massachusetts

. . . a statistical tie, given the margin of error. Still, this is big, big news.

and

* Hugh Hewitt: A Massachusetts Miracle?

Scott Brown is an impressive candidate — intelligent, experienced, good-humored and handsome.

Brown’s record of public service is distinguished as well. Not only is he in his third term as a state senator, he served three terms before that as a state representative. More impressive than even that, however, is his service in uniform.

As his Web site, brownforussenate.com, puts it: “Senator Brown is a proud member of the Massachusetts National Guard, where he has served for nearly three decades and currently holds the rank of Lt. Colonel in the Judge Advocate Generals (JAG) Corps.”

Hewitt finds negatives, however:

He is a die-hard red Boston Red Sox fan.

He is a die-hard New England Patriots fan.

And he’s a Republican in Mass.

Which is not a deal-breaker this year, when, per Byron York:

The race to replace the late Sen. Ted Kennedy in Massachusetts is shaping up as a referendum on health care reform.