Yeah, I remember reluctantly suggesting to people that they vote for Martha Coakley in the general even though I really didn't like her, we were right at the edge of the filibuster margin and one more Republican would start letting them filibuster everything.

It was in fact Scott Brown's election that killed the public option in Obamacare, since at the time the House was still holding strong for it, and when the Republicans got their extra filibuster vote is when the House gave up on that and changed strategy, going for budget reconciliation to improve on the Senate's version (and the public option couldn't be enacted that way).

I probably felt very much like thos people who called you and apologized for asking you to vote for her.