When Republican Senator Scott Brown is sworn in later this week there will be a major shift in overall Senate power. While the Democrats will still control the majority of the Senate, they will no longer own the super majority. Losing control of the super majority is quite significant because the Democrats will no longer have enough Senate members to prevent the Republicans from delaying votes.

Senator Brown recently won a special election to replace long time Democratic Senator, Ted Kennedy. Kennedy was a Massachusetts Senator for over 50 years, but recently passed away after a long bout with cancer.

In the special election, which was held last month, Scott Brown beat out heavily favored Martha Coakley, who represented the Democratic party. This outcome was especially suprising considering that Massachusetts had long been considered a very liberal state. Political experts believe this recent election parallels an overal disatisfaction that Americans have had with the Democratic campaign so far.

Brown originally did not want to be sworn in until February 11, but the Senate majority leader highly recomended that he take his seat this week. Brown originally wanted to take time to set up an office and hire a staff, but has been criticized for his delay.