The Scott Brown political train, was a pickup truck. I have been watching with wonder and interest the triumph of the underdog Scott Brown, who swept away the expert political naysayers in his victory to win the U.S. Senate seat held by Ted Kennedy for so many years. Brown is a straight shooter, and the insiders of Beltway politics still cannot believe this virtually unknown guy in a pickup truck from a town mostly known in Massachusetts for its luxury clothing discount mall (Wrentham, MA, population 10,554) could so deftly defeat a well-funded and seemingly untouchable Democratic former prosecutor and current attorney general, Martha Coakley. It may be true that Coakley did not run the most energized or robust campaign. While Eric Fehrnstrom, the political genius who ran Mitt Romney's campaign, provided his resources and did a superb job with Steve Brown.

It is funny that the person who was perhaps most capable of becoming a senator was Ted Kennedy's nephew Joe, the former congressman. For whatever reason - fear of the unknown or complacency in his current job as Chairman and president of Citizens Energy - he decided against running for his uncle's vacant seat. He also may have tested the wind and saw what happened to his cousin Caroline in her disastrous run for the Senate seat in N.Y. There the media was not deferential to the Kennedy mystique, which was viewed by some with shock. Kennedys are not used to the rough treatment. But we have become used to the idea of Joe Kennedy seemingly snubbing the establishment and posing with Hugo Chavez to bring oil to the poor. Maybe Joe's image of a man in an oil truck bringing heat to the poor can trump the Brown pickup and common man touch. Advice for Joe: make sure the oil truck has 200,000 miles on it and is the real deal.

But even the most charismatic of Democratic candidates would have been no match for the mood of this electorate that was bent on sweeping out the old ideas and crony back-room dealings of the old guard in Massachusetts. This was a freight train of voter discontent that had built up lots of steam, and the folks who were run over never saw the engine until it was too late. The Democratic machine of Massachusetts has all but ground to a halt. Brown's shot across their bow has reverberated across the state and truly around the world. His win is a game changer. In one fell swoop, he halted the Obama juggernaut, already staggered by the economy, and he delivered the coup de grace to any Democratic hopeful in the next election. Beware of hubris and the "I'm smarter than you" attitude that has recently been the downfall of the once-great Democratic Party. This is not an original idea, but the reputation of Democrats now more closely resemble the elitist old school Republicans, while the new common-touch Republicans now more closely identify with the man and woman on the street. Gravity has been suspended in Massachusetts politics at least for a while. Will the Democrats get back on track? Who knows? But certainly Ted Kennedy is rolling over in his grave. It will be a long time before the Kennedys can mount a comeback. But never say never.

What does Scott Brown's victory mean for Massachusetts, a state with an elitist, liberal reputation?  Only time will tell. But one thing is for sure, the Democratic Party needs to evaluate its core values in order to regain its positive reputation. Maybe it should take a cue from the Republican Party, which seems to be on an upward swing.