Candidacy to Replace Kennedy":
President Obama called Sunday on the voters of Massachusetts to send state Attorney General Martha Coakley to the U.S. Senate, urging them to "understand what's at stake" in the tight race to succeed the late Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.)This is just more desperation, actually. The Dems are going down on Tuesday, and they know it.
Obama acknowledged that a victory Tuesday by state Sen. Scott Brown, Coakley's Republican opponent, would damage his agenda, telling a crowd at Northeastern University, "A lot of these measures are gonna rest on one vote in the United States Senate," he said.
A Brown victory would give Senate Republicans 41 votes -- enough to potentially scuttle the sweeping health-care legislation that is the president's top domestic agenda priority and what Kennedy called the "cause of my life." The legislation is in the final stages of negotiations between the White House and congressional Democrats. It got through the Senate by the barest of margins, requiring the votes of all 60 members of the Senate Democratic caucus to sidestep a GOP filibuster.
Brown spent most of his Sunday outside Boston, attending several rallies with former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling and former Boston College football hero Doug Flutie. His last event, in Worcester, drew more than 1,000 people, according to Republican strategists.
Public and private polling showed the race as very tight, according to both camps. An independent political handicapper, Charlie Cook, still rated the race a toss-up but indicated Sunday he would put "a finger on the scale for Brown."
Coakley's victory was considered a certainty after she won the Democratic primary Dec. 8 in this liberal-leaning state, but she has run into trouble in her bid, not least because she has had difficulty generating excitement among the rank-and-file in her party.
Polished and poised, Coakley presents a far different image than Kennedy's back-slapping pol. In the campaign's final hours, Democrats have tried to turn the race into an ideological referendum, evoking Republicans' handling of the economy at every turn and urging voters to honor Kennedy's legacy with a vote that would help push through health-care legislation.
"If you were fired up in the last election, I need you even more fired up in this election," Obama told the crowd of more than 1,000 supporters inside Northeastern's Cabot Physical Education Center, in downtown Boston.
Brown has campaigned as an independent-minded Republican, but Obama warned that he would settle into the Senate with the conservative wing of the GOP -- pointing to his opposition to a "bank tax" Obama proposed last week.
"She's got your back. Her opponent's got Wall Street's back," Obama thundered.
See also, "Brown Has 9.6% Lead in New Poll" (via Memeorandum). Also, Ed Morrissey, "Poll: Brown up 9.6%."
2 comments:
The Democrats 60 vote super majority, due to the spectacle of Al Franken, clearly a fluke, with the narrow victory against incumbent Republican Norm Coleman (Arlen Specter switching parties, notwithstanding), will probably evaporate due to the Independents. The Independents are voting against the Health Care Bill. The Obama Democrats are spoon-feeding the public their Caster Oil for our own good. The left are not interested in public opinion (witness the litigation ag. Prop 8). This victory holds the promise to spoil their pursuit of Paternal government.
Obama's visit was either a setback for Coakley or he just wasnt effective enough to stop Coakley's slide, because the polls have steadily moved to Brown's favor.
Go Brown!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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