On December 11, Massachusetts held a special election for State Senate, Middlesex 4 district. The results: Democrat James Marzilli 59.4%, Republican Brian Cangiamila 36.1%, Constitution Party nominee Thomas Fallon 4.5%.
The same district in November 2006 voted Democratic 66.2%, Republican 33.8%.
Turnout in the special election was 15% of the number of registered voters.
I believe the turnout percentage is a huge indicator in the voting results– it looks like only party and political activists participated. The vast majority of the qualified voter population didn’t know enough about the candidates to take action.