Scott Brown wasn't supposed to win.
Brown, a Republican whose daughter was more well-known than he was heading into the 2010 special election to fill the recently deceased longtime Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy was supposed to lose to the natural heiress to the seat, Democrat Martha Coakley.
And he was supposed to lose big.
Instead, Brown ran a shrewd campaign and successfully portrayed himself as an average American upset with the big-spending overreaching federal government. And he did it from the driver's seat of his pickup truck.
The improbable victory did more than just rattle the liberal elites, who were preparing for a long, comfortable stay at the top of the political food chain. It set a tone for what would turn out to be a Democratic bloodbath in November.