President Obama Headed to Massachusetts to Campaign for Coakley
In what could be considered a sign of desperation, President Obama is headed to Massachusetts on Sunday afternoon to campaign for Democratic senate candidate Martha Coakley, a move that puts his own credibility on the line. Obama hopes to avert a loss that would shatter the party’s 60-seat senate supermajority.
“It’s all about 60,” said a senior White House official.
According to Politico:
Obama’s trip represents a stark, late recognition not just that Coakley may lose, but also that her defeat can’t be spun away. The defection of independent voters and some Democrats in one of the nation’s most liberal states would deal a stunning, and possibly fatal, blow to the centerpiece of Obama’s first-year agenda, health care reform, which congressional leaders would be left trying to jam through using procedural loopholes.
The latest polling in Massachussetts shows that key Democratic demographic, including less affluent women and African-Americans don’t support Coakley to the extent Democrats expected.
“A huge block of voters who have a favorable opinion of Obama aren’t with Coakley,” the Democrat said. “He’s got to go get them for her, or she loses.”.
A Suffolk University poll released Thursday night shows republican Scott Brown leading 50 to 46 percent, with strong support from independent voters.
