Ouch... MA Senate primary is in September 2012

[Recursion]

That's not good if this is contested... the winner will have less than two months to mount a statewide campaign. I worked for Khazei in the 2010 primary and still support him (I have nothing against Warren as such, I just don't want to hang our party's hopes of keeping the Senate on somebody's first political campaign ever), and I suppose it's good that Capuano and Frank both bowed out, but even a bruising 2-person race running that late could be a disaster. Also Rep. Lynch could still step in, and there's even talk of Lucchino (the guy that owns the Red Sox). Meanwhile Brown has 54/25 favorable / unfavorable in the commonwealth and basically the full attention of the MA and national GOP. We absolutely can't repeat Coakley's mistake of thinking that seat belongs to our party by right.

[MannyGoldstein]

1. You heard it here first: (Elizabeth) Warren will beat Brown handily

If she's the nominee. She's a full-bore Democrat with a spine and a mouth, just what us Mass-ers want.

I like Khazei, but do I recall correctly he's against Medicare-for-all?

[Recursion]

2. He's against it without a dedicated revenue stream. I am too

This was actually the subject of the one conversation I got to have with him, and the reason I ended up working for his campaign. The danger of Medicare For All without dedicated revenues is that it becomes Medicaid For All, which I think would be a disaster.

He founded City Year and has an excellent grassroots network, but it wasn't enough to beat Coakley (or for that matter even Capuano) in the primary in 2010, so it's tough to say. But I think it's an open question how much support he or Warren will get west of 128.

[MannyGoldstein]

5. What would a dedicated revenue stream look like?

Are we talking a dedicated payroll tax? Even that's shaky (e.g., witness the current attempts to grab the Social Security Trust Fund for America's wealthiest), but I agree that it would likely be a good way to go.

[Recursion]

6. It could be a payroll tax like now, but would have to be much larger

It would have to be at least on the order of magnitude of what we pay for insurance, in general, and that would be politically disastrous. If I were king I'd pay for it with a carbon tax and/or VAT. Yglesias proposed paying for it with a 100% estate tax, more as a conversation starter than a policy that could actually be passed. Whatever happens, it needs to be legislatively difficult to get at it.

[Freddie Stubbs]

3. Is Warren in favor of Medicare-for-all?

[Recursion]

4. She doesn't list health care among her priorities in her campaign info

So I'm not sure where she falls on this.

[Erose999]

8. Theres so much more to prioritize on than Medicare for All right now. We have to first stop the

"Koch/ALEC/Citizens United/US Chamber/GOP House/Turd Way machine" from pushing everything we have now back. Then we can concentrate on moving forward with progressive policies.

[Erose999]

7. Brown's approval ratings are based on data aggregated before Warren announced, as well as before the

Tea Party debates where they shouted "let him die". And Elisabeth Warren only formally announced earlier this week. I think she's perfectly capable of pulling it off. I know I'll be donating as soon as I can scrape something up.

[Recursion]

9. I'm still for Khazei, but will throw some money Warren's way if she gets the nom (nt)