Democrats seated two senators under shady conditions and rewrote a state election law to keep their filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. Now they plan to deny Scott Brown entry if he wins Ted Kennedy's seat.

The fate of health care reform may very well hinge on the Jan. 19 special election in Massachusetts to fill the seat of Kennedy, for whom passage has been touted as a sort of final tribute to this champion of the nanny state.

As Democratic chances in 2010 are buffeted by public opposition, Republican Brown's chances to win the seat have shifted from science fiction to a real possibility. The polls are conflicted. The Boston Globe shows Democratic Attorney General Martha Coakley with a 50-35 lead. Public Policy Polling puts Brown up 48-47.

Democrats are apparently so concerned that Brown could win that they're threatening to delay his swearing-in long enough to allow Paul Kirk, appointed to fill the seat until the election, to be the 60th vote that would avoid a filibuster.

Brown, endorsed by the Tea Party Express, has vowed to be the 41st vote to block the nationalization of health care through a Senate filibuster. Kirk recently told reporters that he would vote for the bill even after Brown won the seat. The will of the voters would be meaningless in his eyes.

When Democrats Bill Owens and John Garamendi won special elections in New York and California congressional districts, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi saw to it that they were sworn in immediately. If Brown wins, Democrats will invoke a double standard.

"Because it's a special election," said Brian McNiff, a spokesman for the secretary of the commonwealth of Massachusetts, "we'd have to wait 10 days for absentee and military ballots to come in."

Another source told the Boston Herald that the election wouldn't be certified until Feb. 20.

Yet, in October 2007, Massachusetts Rep. Niki Tsongas was sworn in two days after her 5th District special election victory — so she could rush to Congress to help override a veto of an expansion of SCHIP, the State Children's Health Insurance Program.

The Democrats moved heaven and earth to get Sen. Al Franken seated. Acorn-backed Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie orchestrated the endless recounts that gave Democratic challenger Franken a lead some six weeks after GOP incumbent Norm Coleman appeared to win by 725 votes on Election Day.

In Illinois, Democrats denied the people a special election when it appeared that the GOP might win Barack Obama's vacated Senate seat. They arranged the appointment of the undistinguished seat-warmer Roland Burris by then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who left office amid a corruption scandal.

And in Massachusetts, a law that required a special election within five months of a Senate vacancy but did not provide for an interim appointment was changed to allow for the interim appointment of Kirk.

We expect that Coakley's certification and swearing-in will be on fast-forward if she wins. But should Brown win, the Democrats stand prepared to thwart the will of the people of Massachusetts.