As I tweeted earlier, this is a victory for Sean Duffy, a Republican who has been running hard for the seat, attracting the notice of not just the likes of us and the WSJ (plus some helpful endorsements), but even the New York Times. This became a race Obey didn’t want to have to run early.

By the way, I’m pretty sure this means the answer to the question “Could Obey Be Coakley’d?” is a resounding “yes.” An answer provided by Obey himself today.