Boston Globe 3/14/10: Special election to fill Brown’s state Senate seat may predict November swing. Scott Brown’s stunning upset over Attorney General Martha Coakley gave Massachusetts Republicans momentum they haven’t seen in a generation or more. If a relatively unknown Republican state senator could best a statewide officeholder and rising star in the Democratic Party, isn’t anything politically possible? Whether Brown was a fluke or a trendsetter won’t be known until scores of statewide races are decided in November. But political observers say this spring’s special election to fill Brown’s state Senate seat could be a bellwether and an interesting look at how both parties are dealing with the shifting political landscape.