Say you’re a Democrat (I know, but just say). There’s going to be an election that will be a national referendum — a referendum on the Obama agenda. The presence on the ground of the president himself, and the former president, Clinton, and other big guns will assure that the election is national. Which of the 50 states would you like to see that election in? Massachusetts, right? Even better, this will be the race to replace a Kennedy brother, beloved and legendary. The scenario couldn’t be any better for the Democrats.

And yet they may lose. That, friends, is shocking.

I mean, the race is not in Arizona, which is a Republican state, by and large. It’s not in Missouri or Ohio, both of which are swing swates. It’s not in New Jersey — where a Republican was just elected governor — which is a pretty staunchly blue state. It’s in Massachusetts, a blue-blue-blue state. The only state that McGovern won. The state of Dukakis, John Kerry, Barney Frank, the Kennedys . . .

Holy mackerel. Just think of it.

I have a few more thoughts on the Senate race, and other thoughts, in today’s Impromptus. The column is titled “Mass.-teria.” Does that ring any bells with you? The Music Man? “Trouble,” one of the first raps ever, and one of the best?