A critical vote takes place today in Massachusetts, where Republican candidate Scott Brown has surprised everyone by coming close in the polls and actually has a chance of winning the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Ted Kennedy. Republicans are excited about this race and it has drawn national attention. A number of my friends have signed on as supporters of Brown on Facebook, which is what prompted me to take a look at his web site. I was disappointed (though not at all surprised) by what I found on the page stating his position on various issues.

While this decision should ultimately be made by the woman in consultation with her doctor, I believe we need to reduce the number of abortions in America. I believe government has the responsibility to regulate in this area and I support parental consent and notification requirements and I oppose partial birth abortion. I also believe there are people of good will on both sides of the issue and we ought to work together to support and promote adoption as an alternative to abortion.

Ugh.

Brown tries to say all the right things, but he winds up sounding like a long line of "pro-choice" politicians who attempt to placate abortion opponents by saying that they want abortion to be "safe, legal and rare."

I am glad I do not live in Massachusetts, because this would be a tough choice for me to make today. One the one hand, it is critical that we stop Barack Obama's socialist health care "reform" plan. The prospect of denying the Democrats the 60th vote they need to overcome a filibuster on health care "reform" is what has conservatives excited nationwide. On the other hand, when you strip away all the rhetoric about reducing the number of abortions and popular measures like parental consent, Scott Brown thinks it should be legal to murder unborn babies.

It is true that Brown, if elected, will cast the critical vote to stop ObamaCare. It is also true that there is no real chance of electing a true conservative in Massachusetts, where voter registration numbers heavily favor Democrats and where Ted Kennedy won that seat with a minimum of 60% of the vote in every election since 1970 (often breaking 70%) with the exception of 1994. John Kerry won his elections with less overwhelming numbers, but still won in a landslide each time with the exception of a fairly close race in 1996. Because of the political realities of this race, I would probably hold my nose and vote for Brown. I would not lift a finger to support him, though.