Barack Does Boston

A political junkie is not often treated to the cliffhanging goodness witnessed in this Massachusetts Senate seat race to fill the seat vacated by the death of Teddy Kennedy. Who would have ever thought that the bottom would fall out of the presumed heiress' campaign - the winner of the Democratic primary, the Attorney General of the state, Martha Coakley.

Fortunately for her opponent, State Senator Scott Brown, Coakley is a smug woman feeling entirely entitled to the seat. She has performed as a dreadful candidate and only attended one third of the political gatherings as Brown. She took a vacation immediately after the primary, which left the stage entirely to Brown for many days. She even took a night off the campaign trail and went down to D.C. for a fundraiser with the high rolling lobbyists from the drug and medical industries. All the while she bashes lobbyists and their money. Wink, wink. Nod, nod.

Cambridge Police Patrol Officers endorse Scott Brown. Coakley's husband is a retired police officer. I guess that unfortunate wording from the President of the United States that the Cambridge police acted 'stupidly' as they questioned his old pal Professor Gates still stings a bit.

"I think we overestimated the state's Democraticness and underestimated the national mood," one senior Democratic strategist said Friday. "We thought that the state's deep blue voting pattern would help us withstand national trends." That from a piece by "The Fix", Chris Cillizza and Karl Vick in the Washington Post.

Up until late Friday afternoon, the White House insisted that President Obama would not be going to Boston to campaign for Coakley. Then, as the poll numbers became less and less friendly to Coakley, suddenly Obama announces he'll go to Boston for Martha Sunday. After a rare church service appearance in Washington, where he was the featured speaker, of course, he went on up to help out Martha Coakley. Reports on the ground mentioned the empty seats at the Northeastern University venue while Scott Brown's competing event used two overflow spots for his appearance to accommodate crowds. Obama was thrown off his game by hecklers and faltered with his speech. It was not his best day.

The odd theme of Obama's attacks on Brown was the truck used in Brown's ads. It is Brown's own truck with over 100,000 miles on it yet Obama showed his snobby elitism. You'd think a President that bailed out GM would be more sensitive to a GMC truck, wouldn't you?

Obama said, "Anyone can buy a truck". Really? How about showing a bit of caution with elitist cracks like this when millions are feeling the pain of unemployment and the recession on family budgets. Obama said you might not want to ride in the truck with Scott Brown. Hmm. What other Massachusetts politician does this remark conjure up as far as driving with the person goes? I seem to remember a really bad part of dead Ted's past that involves a car with him behind the wheel...

All polls now show Scott Brown up over Martha Coakley. This is exciting stuff. This is a 'shot heard around the world' kind of stuff.

C'mon, Massachusetts voters. You can do it. Yes, you can. Fired up, ready to go.