Win gives the nation’s Republicans a boost in confidence

The race between Brown and Democrat Martha Coakley has provided an extraordinary boost to the national Republican Party, with GOP officials pointing to an increase in fund-raising, the recruitment of strong candidates, and renewed enthusiasm among the party faithful.

At the Washington headquarters of several Republican Party organizations yesterday, much of the talk was about recruiting candidates to run competitively for US House seats this fall in Massachusetts, and in helping to bolster financing of many House and Senate races across the country.

“If Democrats can’t sell their agenda in the bluest state in the country, they can’t sell it anywhere,’’ said Paul Lindsay, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, referring to Massachusetts. “To that end, it will have a significant ripple effect on campaigns across the country.’’

While there has been much publicity in recent months about the activism of “tea party’’ members, many of whom are conservatives, Brown’s effort in Massachusetts has underscored that many moderate and independent voters may be up for grabs in this year’s midterm elections across the nation.

Brian Walsh, a spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said that Democrats should be worried about protecting their seats across the country. He said that polls show Republicans are running strong in efforts to capture a number of seats now held by Democrats.

Although such early poll findings can be difficult to assess, Walsh said shortly before the polls closed, “If I was a Democratic candidate or strategist, what [they] are seeing in Massachusetts should cause them a lot of worry.’’

But analysts said there are dangers if the GOP misinterprets the meaning of the Massachusetts results. Stuart Rothenberg, editor of the nonpartisan Rothenberg Political Report, said Republicans may be mistaken if they presume that Brown’s win in Massachusetts means that voters fully back a Republican agenda. Coakley made a number of gaffes in her campaign, while Brown ran a better-than-expected race that took advantage of the negative political environment for Democrats.

“There is a danger that . . . Republicans will simply hunker down and attack, that they will grow arrogant’’ as a result of recently winning governorships in Virginia and New Jersey, which served as political precursors to the Massachusetts race for the US Senate, Rothenberg said.

Rothenberg said that after Brown’s victory, Republicans “need to understand that their own ratings are still very low, and they need to temper their criticism of Democrats and the Obama administration and at least convince the American public that the Republicans are willing to work with the White House and Democratic congressional leaders. If their attitude is, ‘what the hell, Obama’s days are numbered, we will run roughshod over them,’ they will look just as crass and partisan and arrogant as they say the Democrats have looked.’’

Brown ran against the health care plan favored by Democrats, saying he preferred the Republican approach on that and many other issues. But he also stressed his independence and noted that he supported Obama’s decision to increase troop levels in Afghanistan.

One potential beneficiary of the Republican surge is Jon Golnik, who last November filed papers to seek the GOP nomination for the House seat now held by Representative Niki Tsongas of Lowell. A few months ago, before there was much talk about Republicans capturing a Senate seat in Massachusetts, Golnik made a trip to Washington to talk to Republican Party officials about getting help for his quest.

The response, Golnik said in a telephone interview last night, was, “Great, once again there’s a Republican who was going to run in Massachusetts.’’ He said he was told, “Good luck, it’s an uphill battle, but don’t expect much.’’

But in recent weeks, Golnik said, he has raised $50,000 and gotten considerable encouragement. Now a number of potential Republican candidates are inquiring about running for seats across the Bay State, according to GOP officials. Golnik, a Carlisle resident who runs a sports merchandise business, said that Republicans are doing well now because Democrats “misread’’ the results of the 2008 election.

The Democrats “felt that people were voting for an agenda,’’ Golnik said. “I don’t necessarily think people were voting for an agenda. They were voting against the Republicans.’’ He said that “you are witnessing right now the very same mentality’’ with voters voting against the Democrats in power.

Kevin Madden, a Republican consultant who advised the presidential campaign of Mitt Romney, said it is important for the party to let candidates tailor their races to local conditions, learning from Brown’s race but not necessarily duplicating it elsewhere.

The key, he said, is for Republicans to seek support across a broad political spectrum.

“We are seeing a realignment of the Republican message with Main Street,’’ Madden said. “It is an opportunity for Republicans to build that conservative-independent coalition that has led to electoral success in the past.’’
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