Durbin on Brown win: 'I accept that verdict of history'

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said Sunday that Massachusetts voters picked Republican Scott Brown to fill Ted Kennedy's Senate seat for a variety of reasons, and that the voters had sent a message to lawmakers in Washington.

"The independent voters in Massachusetts told us in part focus on the economy and jobs," Durbin said.

That's just the tack that Democrats have taken in the face of the Brown upset last week, and what Democrats are encouraging President Barack Obama to focus on in his first State of the Union speech this week.

"I accept that verdict of history," Durbin added of the rebuke of the Democratic candidate, Martha Coakley, at the ballot box.

He added that he believed voters were upset that health reform hadn't been passed, and at the same time wary that federal healthcare legislation would "diminish" the state benefits afforded to Massachusetts residents.