What Happened to the Scott Brown Vote in Massachusetts?

Was it just this past January that Republican Scott Brown beat Democrat Martha Coakley in the U.S. Senate race?

We wondered how Scott's majority voted on November 2. There were no Republican winners in any of the major races across Massachusetts. Did they just disappear?

Here are the results from January:

Votes	Candidate
1,168,107	Scott Brown (R)
1,058,682	Martha Coakley (D)
22,237	Joe Kennedy (I)
2,249,026	Total

In the Governor's race, 38,000 more people showed up to vote but that about equalled the Green Party vote for Jill Stein. A lot of Scott Brown voters went for independent candidate Tim Cahill rather than Republican candidate Charlie Baker. And maybe 40,000 to 50,000 Scott Brown voters went for Democrat Deval Patrick:

Votes	Candidate
1,108,028	Deval Patrick (D)
962,671	Charlie Baker (R)
183,892	Tim Cahill (I)
32,816	Jill Stein (G)
2,287,407	Total

In the Treasurer's race, Democrat Steve Grossman picked up 145,000 Scott Brown voters:

Votes	Candidate
1,203,647	Steve Grossman (R)
986,768	Karen Polito (D)
2,190,415	Total

By contrast, in the Auditor's race, there was a big drop off in total votes, but the winner Democrat Suzanne Bump didn't get much bump from Scott Brown voters:

Votes	Candidate
1,015,616	Suzanne Bump (D)
976,014	Mary Connaughton (R)
108,333	Nat Fortune (G)
2,099,963	Total

But a big beneficiary of Scott Brown voters in November was none other than Martha Coakley herself. She picked up around 354,000 Scott Brown voters in her reelection race for State Attorney General (no hard feelings?):

Votes	Candidate
1,412,959	Martha Coakley (D)
837,616	Jim McKenna (R)
2,250,575	Total

An even bigger beneficiary was Democrat William Galvin who picked up 357,000 in the Secretary of State race:

Votes	Candidate
1,416,166	Bill Galvin (D)
718,138	Bill Campbell (R)
60,948	Jim Henderson (I)
2,195,252	Total

Most of these Scott Brown voters who switched to Democrats and other candidates in November are independents, and the mind of a independent voter is a curious thing. And if it doesn't make sense to the political parties or outside observers, it does make sense to the independent voter.

What is the lessen here? If you want to keep the independent vote, you have to win it all over again in every election, in every race. Take it for granted, and it's gone.