This is going to be so great!

[LAPhil]

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/pol...ome&position=0
Poll shocker: Scott Brown surges ahead in Senate race
By Jessica Van Sack
Friday, January 15, 2010 - Updated 3h ago

Jessica Van Sack is the Herald's Boston police bureau chief covering crime and justice. She works out of City Hall where you can send tips to jvansack@bostonherald.com.

Riding a wave of opposition to Democratic health-care reform, GOP upstart Scott Brown is leading in the U.S. Senate race, raising the odds of a historic upset that would reverberate all the way to the White House, a new poll shows.

Although Brown’s 4-point lead over Democrat Martha Coakley is within the Suffolk University/7News survey’s margin of error, the underdog’s position at the top of the results stunned even pollster David Paleologos.

“It’s a Brown-out,” said Paleologos, director of Suffolk’s Political Research Center. “It’s a massive change in the political landscape.”

The poll shows Brown, a state senator from Wrentham, besting Coakley, the state’s attorney general, by 50 percent to 46 percent, the first major survey to show Brown in the lead. Unenrolled long-shot Joseph L. Kennedy, an information technology executive with no relation to the famous family, gets 3 percent of the vote. Only 1 percent of voters were undecided.

Paleologos said bellweather models show high numbers of independent voters turning out on election day, which benefits Brown, who has 65 percent of that bloc compared to Coakley’s 30 percent. Kennedy earns just 3 percent of the independent vote, and 1 percent are undecided.

Given the 4.4-point margin of error, the poll shows Coakley could win the race, Paleologos said. But if Brown’s momentum holds, he is poised to succeed the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy - and to halt health-care reform, the issue the late senator dubbed “the cause of my life.”

Yet even in the bluest state, it appears Kennedy’s quest for universal health care has fallen out of favor, with 51 percent of voters saying they oppose the “national near-universal health-care package” and 61 percent saying they believe the government cannot afford to pay for it.

The poll, conducted Monday through Wednesday, surveyed 500 registered likely voters who knew the date of Tuesday’s election. It shows Brown leading all regions of the state except Suffolk County.

“Either Brown’s momentum accelerates and his lead widens, or this becomes a wake-up call for Coakley to become the ‘Comeback Kid’ this weekend,” Paleologos said.

And with 99 percent having made up their minds, voters may be hard to persuade.

The poll surveyed a carefully partitioned electorate meant to match voter turnout: 39 percent Democrat, 15 percent Republican and 45 percent unenrolled.

Brown wins among men and is remarkably competitive among women - trailing Coakley’s 50 percent with 45 percent.

While Brown has 91 percent of registered Republicans locked up, an astonishing 17 percent of Democrats report they’re jumping ship for Brown as well - likely a product of Coakley’s laser-focus on hard-core Dems, potentially at the exclusion of other Democrats whom she needed to win over, Paleologos said.

For Coakley, Brown’s surge may be as ominous as the fact that her campaign’s peril is not fully recognized, with 64 percent of voters still believing she’ll win - a perception that threatens to keep her supporters home.

Brown’s popularity is solid. He enjoys a 57 percent favorability rating compared to just 19 percent unfavorable. Coakley’s favorability is 49 percent; her unfavorability, 41 percent.

No longer does Brown suffer from a name-recognition problem, with 95 percent of voters having heard of him statewide.

[Kathy63]

Statements like this aren't helping her.

http://washingtontimes.com/weblogs/w...bly-shouldnt-/

Be sure to read the comments. They are priceless.

[Twoller]

That link is not working for me. I get ...

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Guru Meditation:

XID: 1139494735
Varnish

The link itself is pretty provocative,

http://washingtontimes.com/weblogs/w...bly-shouldnt-/

"Martha-coakley-devout-catholics-probably-shouldn't-"

[Twoller]

From the Washigton Times:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/weblo...bly-shouldnt-/

Martha Coakley: Devout Catholics 'Probably shouldn't work in the emergency room'
By Kerry Picket on Jan. 14, 2010 into Water Cooler

How can a Massachusetts Senate candidate possibly offend 39 percent of voters in her state? If it's Democrat Attorney General Martha Coakley, she would tell devout Catholics not to bother working in an emergency room (H/T Jim Hoft - Big Government). In the audio clip below, Ms. Coakley chokes on a question from radio host Ken Pittman referring to the conscience clause. Under the conscience clause, workers in health-care environments ranging from doctors to maintenance men can refuse to offer services, information, or advice to patients on issues like contraception, blood transfusions, etc..if the workers are morally against it. Here is how Ms. Coakley handled the matter. (audio and transcript below):

Ken Pittman: Right, if you are a Catholic, and believe what the Pope teaches that any form of birth control is a sin. ah you don’t want to do that.

Martha Coakley: No we have a seperation of church and state Ken, lets be clear.

Ken Pittman: In the emergency room you still have your religious freedom.

Martha Coakley: (……uh, eh…um..) The law says that people are allowed to have that. You can have religious freedom but you probably shouldn’t work in the emergency room.

I have to admit, if your religious views create some kind of ambiguity in your own mind about what kind of services you offer in an emergency room, then you don't belong there. But I don't see where the issue really has anything to do with emergency rooms. She dragged it there trying to use an extreme example to make her point.

I also agree that any medical institution that refuses to offer birth control to their patients should not be receiving government checks for any reason -- if that's what she is talking about.

[LAPhil]

Coakley's tanking so fast there's virtually no way she'll recover the losses by Tuesday. Thank God, now we can finally stop this disaster of a health care bill, as long as Gov. Patrick doesn't try to pull a fast one by stalling the certification of the election. You know the Democrats have to be thinking about it, though. I wouldn't put anything past them.

As far as the religious freedom issue goes, however, I agree with Twoller. Unless the hospital is a private, religious institution, I don't think they have the right to withhold services or advice which the patient may need based on the hospital worker's religious convictions. But for now, let's just be happy that Brown is winning.

[Twoller]

Originally Posted by LAPhil

....

As far as the religious freedom issue goes, however, I agree with Twoller. Unless the hospital is a private, religious institution, I don't think they have the right to withhold services or advice which the patient may need based on the hospital worker's religious convictions. ...

Unless a hospital is not receiving any kind of government money, they should not have the right to withhold services or advice which the patient may need based on the hospital worker's religious convictions. And any hospital that does needs to be cut off from any kind of government aid whatsoever.

[DerailAmnesty.com]

I'll be very impressed and happy if and when it happens. A Republican winning that seat, in Massachusetts? Wow!

[LAPhil]

Obama's so worried she's going to lose that he's going to Massachusetts to campaign for her this Sunday. I guess he doesn't realize most people are going to be more interested in the NFL playoffs that day than anything he has to say.

[John M. from Mass.]

Things here are getting real dicey between Brown and Coakley and to makes things even more spicy, Obama is coming here to stomp for Coakley. Complaints against Coakley are being filed with the Massachusetts Ethincs Board over her use of underhanded tactics and some of Obama's SEIU thugs have even been seen canvasing polling places. I got my seatbelt fasten for Tuesday.