The Obama administration yesterday promised to press ahead with healthcare reform in spite of an electoral setback in Massachusetts partly driven by anger over the Democratic agenda.
Republican Scott Brown's victory over Democrat Martha Coakley in the race to replace the late Senator Ted Kennedy in a Democratic stronghold, sent a chilling message to the president a year after his inauguration: that voters blame him for economic woes and link him with discredited Wall Street.
Beyond recriminations about Ms Coakley's alleged incompetence as a candidate, the most immediate problem facing Democrats was whether they could salvage their massive healthcare reform bill.