There are two kinds of elections that matter.  There are elections that are about electing the best person, and there are elections that are about making a statement.

Those of us opposed to the government takeover of health care have a huge opportunity to make a difference-making statement right now.

Scott Brown is the Republican nominee for the special election to fill Ted Kennedy’s U.S. Senate seat in Massachusetts.  I don’t know a whole lot about him other than the fact that he’s a JAG in the National Guard.  Since’s he running for election in Massachusetts, he’s probably a RINO, and he’s definitely largely unknown in Massachusetts and a huge underdog in one of the most liberal states in the country.  Yet I just donated $25 to his campaign and strongly urge you to do the same.  Why?

The simple reason is that the special election is on January 19, and Scott Brown has pledged to vote against Obamacare.

To put this race into perspective, Barack Obama won Massachusetts by 26 points in 2008, which is why everyone has assumed that the Democrat in this race, Martha Coakley, will win it easily.  But what if she doesn’t?  What if the election is close?  If Coakley barely ekes out a win, Democrats in states less liberal than Massachusetts (i.e. almost every other state) will have one more reason to fear for their political lives and possibly vote against Obamacare when it emerges from the House/Senate conference (or the Reid/Pelosi ping-pong, as the case may be).

I also don’t completely rule out the possibility of a Scott Brown win, which would defeat Obamacare outright by removing the 60th vote to break the filibuster in the Senate.  Before you laugh, consider:

1. The electorate has turned dramatically against Democrats and President Obama since the 2008 election.
2. Coakley spent almost all of her cash winning the Democratic primary and does not have the dramatic $$$ advantage one would expect in this race.
3. Scott Brown’s campaign has gone viral.  He has substantially more Facebook fans and Twitter followers than Coakley, and there is a tremendous wave building on the internet, largely begun by Sissy Willis.  Brown has tremendous momentum, and right now we don’t know how far it can take him.
4. Coakley angered liberals by promising (during the primary) to oppose any health care bill that contained any restrictions on abortion — and then promply flip-flopped after winning that primary.  (I like this liberal’s post, saying that she’s “not someone we need in the U.S. Senate.  She is certainly no Teddy Kennedy.”)  The liberal energy she needs to get her vote out simply isn’t there, which leads to the fact that …
5. Special elections are inherently unpredictable, because voter turnout is very low and it’s extremely difficult to predict who will actually vote.  One thing we do know is that conservatives are fired up right now and will vote in much higher percentages than liberals.

For conservatives, this is our best chance to have an impact and derail the health care monstrosity.  If you care at all about defeating Obamacare, go to Scott Brown’s website and donate today.