海角大神

There was a brass band and a feeling of old-time politics as members of the Kennedy clan gathered Thursday to endorse Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley in the special election to fill Edward Kennedy鈥檚 Senate seat.

The crowd mingled to 鈥�America the Beautiful鈥� and 鈥淟et Freedom Ring鈥� before the late senator鈥檚 family 鈥� including his wife, Vicki 鈥� took the stage with Ms. Coakley.

She might need the help of that key endorsement. A of likely voters found Coakley leading her Republican challenger, state Sen. Scott Brown, by a smaller margin than expected 鈥� nine percentage points.

In the poll, 50 percent favored Coakley and 41 percent chose Senator Brown. The general election is Jan. 19.

Coakley was strongly favored coming out of the Dec. 8 primary due to the heavily Democratic nature of Massachusetts: Blue voters outnumber their red counterparts 3 to 1 in the state.

But the Rasmussen poll 鈥� the only recent poll available 鈥� should be interpreted carefully, says Jeffrey Berry, a political scientist at Tufts University in Medford, Mass.

Rasmussen鈥檚 methodology, he says, includes very tight screening of respondents and can result in a Republican bias.

But that doesn鈥檛 mean the poll should be disregarded completely.

鈥淲hat it says is that Coakley has to get her vote out,鈥� Professor Berry says. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the bottom line for this poll.鈥�

While Massachusetts is a heavily Democratic state, the number of independent voters is greater than the sum of Democrats and Republicans. This is where Brown has found much of his unexpected support.

鈥淗e鈥檚 offered himself up as a protest candidate: 鈥業f you don鈥檛 like the way things are going in Washington, vote for me,鈥� 鈥� says Dan Payne, a Massachusetts-based Democratic media consultant. 鈥淭he winds are blowing against the Democrats right now.鈥�

This means that the timing of Thursday鈥檚 endorsement, less than two weeks before the general election, is probably not a coincidence.

Senator Kennedy鈥檚 replacement is likely to be in office before Congress votes on the final version of the healthcare reform bill. That person could therefore be called upon to cast the all-important 60th vote. Brown has pledged to vote against the reform bill.

鈥淭he Kennedys are helping Coakley because they care about what Ted Kennedy called the cause of his life,鈥� Mr. Payne says. 鈥淭hey don鈥檛 want to see the candidate from Massachusetts defeat healthcare reform.鈥�

Indeed, much of Thursday鈥檚 endorsement was devoted to discussion of healthcare.

鈥淢y husband fought for healthcare reform for more than 40 years,鈥� Vicki Kennedy said, after receiving a standing ovation from the crowd as she walked onstage. 鈥�Martha Coakley shares those critical beliefs.鈥�

Coakley, who had initially said she would vote against healthcare reform if it contained restrictions on federal funding for abortion services, pledged her support.

鈥淧riority No. 1 [will be] to pass and implement healthcare reform,鈥� she promised.

-----

Follow us on .