It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over

Mickey Kaus appraises The Brown Ascendancy and its possible impact on the health care bill.

I sometimes find it helpful to think in terms of truisms, so - this bill will fail when enough Dems realize they are better off with it failing.

Obama is not up for reelection until 2012.  He ought to be able to persuade himself that he can play this like Bill Clinton's late play on welfare reform by blaming a partisan Congress for failing to produce a bill, then working an a scaled back bipartisan effort that can be billed as real reform in time for 2012.

Liberal House members can survive a collapse of the bill and stave off a primary challenge by blaming the crazy, conservative Senate.  Swing seat House Dems and worried Dem Senators can blame the crazy House liberals.

If the Dems stand together its Jonestown.  If someone yells "SPUD" and they all scatter, individually they can survive.  Or so they will convince themselves if Brown wins in Massachusetts or even comes close.

Comments

[Vinman]

Tuesday can't come soon enough!

[Cecil Turner]

If the Dems stand together its Jonestown.

And as nice as that'd be, it's probably not worth this disaster of a bill. For once, I favor late-term abortion.

[Jane]

LOL Cecil.

You clearly are not qualified to work in the ER.

[Thomas Collins]

Jane, you'll be amused at the proceedings at my abode. My son, who is working for Brown, has placed a Brown sign in our yard. My wife is trying to secure a Coakley sign to give her equal treatment in our yard.

[Appalled]

It'd be better if this bill die. Problem is, next time health care comes along, it will be as single-payer.

if the bill should die, the GOP really needs to actually make an effort to produce and pass something that addresses healthcare in a rational fashion, and somehow gets us out of our irrational employer-based system, while ensuring that both the healthy and the sick have access to health insurance.

[Dave (in MA)]

Tuesday can't come soon enough!

I hear what you're saying, but don't take away my weekend...

[Chuck K]

Would you rather have the health rationing bill pass and get big GOP victories in November with a majority in House and/or Senate or not have it pass and only small to moderate gains in November with GOP still in minority in both chambers?

I am leaning toward the former (especially if Brown wins). However, I am not the brightest bulb on the tree.

[Extraneus]

Democrats can never allow fixes for the real problems with health care or health insurance, because these problems are the only pretexts they have for "fundamental," "comprehensive" reform.

Even as a minority, I bet they'd filibuster allowing insurance companies to compete nation-wide, for example, because if the "system" improves, they'll never get socialized medicine.

[clarice]

Nice try, ChuckK

Folks the great Dorothy Rabinowitz on Coakley and the Amirault case:

http://online.wsj.com/public/search?article-doc-type=%7BCommentary+%28U.S.%29%7D&HEADER_TEXT=commentary+%28u.s.>For TC's Wife

[Rocco]

TC...HEH

Buy her some flowers and remind her that martha's tough on gardeners.

Damn sixties!

[centralcal]

"However, I am not the brightest bulb on the tree."

Yep, we can see that Chuck K.

[Porchlight]

Or so they will convince themselves if Brown wins in Massachusetts or even comes close.

That may be too late. From what I hear they are trying to rush a bill through before Tuesday.

[narciso]

No 'Thou Shall not Pass' should be the slogan,
It has proven virtually irreversible wherever
it is approved

[Porchlight]

Chuck K,

I'll be happy with anything that stops ObamaCare. And I think Repubs will do just fine in November even if it collapses. The anti-Dem sentiment isn't *just* about healthcare. Jobs, the economy, and spending in general are the larger issues. Remember the Tea Parties were brewing well before there was a health care bill on the table.

So, first one bridge, then the other, Lord willing.

[NK]

Hey TM--

before reading you and Kaus, just this morning for the first time I concluded H-C will NOT pass this year. amazing. The WH deal with the Unions is the tipoff, because that will add to public revulsion and be an impossible vote for southern Dems in the House and Senate. Your welfare reform analogy is not apt because that was Clinton's naked sellout of Congressional Dems to get himself re-elected. This is more complex politics, but you're right that in 2011-2012 Barry O' will bring in the repubs/teapartiers to do a deal, so H-C is not a Dem monopoly. That's a backstab of Nancy P. and liberal Dem committee chairmen I suppose. Amazing times, but ultimately sad that our politicians are so corrupt and morally bankrupt. Cheers.

[clarice]

More on Coakley's crappy record as an AG:
http://www.riehlworldview.com/carnivorous_conservative/2010/01/the-details-coakley-amirault-woodward-and-souza.html>Madama Party Hack

PJTV sponsored phone survey shows Brown winning by 15.4%

[Captain Hate]

Apologies if this has already been posted, but Dorothy Rabinowitz weighs in on the wonderful judgement of Martha Coakley. LUN

[Chuck K]

Thanks, Porch.

Clarice, I am not sure what your comment means, but per centralcal, it is probably me again.

[Jane]

TC -

Your wife could use a vacation next week I think. I recommend Bermuda.

Quick - go file an absentee ballot!

[Captain Hate]

Ack, Clarice beat me to it.

[Ignatz]

--Clarice, I am not sure what your comment means, but per centralcal, it is probably me again.--

I think some people believe your comment to be disingenuous, which to me it does not appear to be.
I think there is some slight risk of what you say but 1994 undercuts your argument. Hillarycare died just before the 94 elections and the Dems were still swamped.

[anduril]

Nice that Croakley's anti-Catholic statements were made with plenty of time for the public to mull them over the weekend. Also nice that they targeted what I suspect is a heavily Democratic demographic in Massachusetts. Turning off potential voters is a good way to keep Dem turnout down.

[Dave (in MA)]

Martha is the Cotton Mather of the late 20th century sex abuse mass hysteria. I suppose that would make Scott Harshbarger Increase Mather.

[Dave (in MA)]

anduril, I wonder if those remarks will be mentioned from any pulpits on Sunday. As a parishioner of St. Mattress parish, I suppose someone else will have to let me know seconhand...

[Captain Hate]

Scott Harshbarger == Mike Nifong. Guilty as hell, free as a bird; ain't Massachusetts great compared to North Carolina?

[Cecil Turner]

Martha is the Cotton Mather of the late 20th century sex abuse mass hysteria.

Here's a stunning interview with Gerald Amirault from yesterday. And apparently he's working hard to help get out the vote. (Go figure.)

[Pofarmer]

"It'd be better if this bill die. Problem is, next time health care comes along, it will be as single-payer.

if the bill should die, the GOP really needs to actually make an effort to produce and pass something that addresses healthcare in a rational fashion, and somehow gets us out of our irrational employer-based system, while ensuring that both the healthy and the sick have access to health insurance."

Graduate Dr.s, lots of Dr's. Let them go forth and build offices, and clinics, and do "procedures" and verily say I "The health care crisis" will be solved.

You see, the problem is, nobody, and I mean nobody, is looking at this from a free market perspective. THAT'S the solution.

[Rob Crawford]

Martha is the Cotton Mather of the late 20th century sex abuse mass hysteria.

See also Reno, Janet.

[narciso]

That is certainly part of the solution, we graduate fewer doctors, more lawyer, each profession has their place, but one is overwhelming the other. The HMO however well intentioned, also made this problem worse,

[Rocco]

the Rev. Paul Manning, a Woburn priest acquitted of sexually assaulting an altar boy.

Father Manning would also visit "the hole" where I worked at the time. I'd unlock a tier gate securing a unit with five cells in it and let him talk through the cells plum sized holes in the solid steel door. I didn't feel comfortable leaving him alone but he'd tell me he wanted to hear confession so I would reluctantly leave him be. I thought he beat his case?

I'm happy Tookie is doing well, as well as a man on house arrest can be. But I mean emotionally. I remember he liked to fish and we'd swap fishing stories from time to time.

[Appalled]

Pofarmer:

The problem a 100% pure free market approach will not solve is the inability for someone with bad health to get insurance, because it is simply irrational for a for-profit insurer to make that coverage available at an affordable price.

[centralcal]

Chuck K - I am just being wary of "concern trolls," "eeyores," and commenters paid to do these things or worse.

If you are none of those, then my apologies.

[boris]

"100% pure free market approach will not solve ..."

Gee A, that did not look like a 100% comment to me. The market would be expected to bring down costs. That makes everything else you might want to cover less costly.

IMO a big part of the reason the market is restrained from working has way more to do with the attitude that profiting from other peoples suffering is imoral.

[Rob Crawford]

The HMO however well intentioned, also made this problem worse,

The motive behind HMOs was not well-intentioned. It was Ted Kennedy's idea, after all.

[narciso]

Well that explains alot, Rob,

[Chuck K]

No need to apologize, c. I trust no one on the net (especially Scott Ritter with a webcam). Oh, I occasionally troll sites, but not this time. I am truly torn between wanting the Dems to push the bill through and face huge defeats in Nov. But trying to reverse it, modify it or defund it later may be too difficult. Oh well, we all shall soon see.

[Porchlight]

Yes, pre-existing conditions are a major problem that must be addressed. But the original distortion is the shackling of health care to employment.

[Ignatz]

--The problem a 100% pure free market approach will not solve is the inability for someone with bad health to get insurance, because it is simply irrational for a for-profit insurer to make that coverage available at an affordable price.--

Appalled,
Ninety percent of that problem gets solved with your idea of dismantling this idiotic employer based health care system.
If you have an existing condition and you don't lose your plan if you lose your job, most people can still make their insurance payments until they find a new one.
Virtually all of us self employed do.

[Pofarmer]

The market would be expected to bring down costs. That makes everything else you might want to cover less costly.

Exactly, as the market comes down, a couple of things happen. #1, Health care gets cheaper for those who already have insurance, etc. There's absolutely no reason for a Heart Echo to cost $1500, none whatsoever. There's no reason it ought to cost $6k to put tubes in a kids ears. There's no reason it ought to cost $750 for 3 stitches in a child's hand. #2, as health care gets cheaper, more and more people can more easily afford it. #3, as health care gets cheaper, it becomes easier for the "system" to provide care for the diminishing numbers who still can't "afford" it through customary channels.

IMO a big part of the reason the market is restrained from working has way more to do with the attitude that profiting from other peoples suffering is imoral.

I don't know if it's just about profit motive. When you look about, and the Dr's are the ones living in the biggest houses, buying properties, giving loads of money to different organizations, then the situation becomes ripe for class warfare. Sure, we need Dr's, but, they aren't gods unto themselves. I was in school with plenty of folks who later went on to become Dr's. We could EASILY graduate twice the number of Docs we do and probably not dilute the quality of the Dr's one bit. Actually, if you would get rid of, or over come the quotas by simply graduating more, you would probably increase the quality. I posted the numbers a while back. We are graduating the same number of Dr's now as we did in 1980. In that time the demographics of the population have changes substantially. The number and types of procedures performed have changed substantially, and the number of living bodies in the U.S. has gone up by at least a 100,000,000 souls.

[caro]

Done by Tuesday?
Can't the senate Republicans force a reading of the whole new bill, which would take a couple of whole days, and don't they have to get a new CBO report?

[Porchlight]

Ignatz, true, though there is still the difficulty of people who simply don't insure themselves at all until they're already sick. No matter how you slice it, it is going to be very expensive to get them on board, and short of mandates or universal coverage, we're always going to have this problem.

[Pofarmer]

But the original distortion is the shackling of health care to employment.

Which was done becaaauussseeee?

[Thomas Collins]

Coakley is probably less accountable than Harshbarger, but the sad fact of the matter is that Coakley and many other public luminaries in Massachusetts acted with reckless disregard of the clear railroading of the defendants in the Fells Acres travesty, and substantially contributed to that railroading. Clarice's link to the recent WSJ article, prior Dorothy Rabinowitz articles and Dorothy Rabinowitz's book set out in detail the trumped up prosecutions in the Fells Acres case and in other cases across the country.

[Janet]

I just received my Annual Report for Virginians from Sen. Jim Webb. Inside lists the 2009 legislative highlights...NO mention of health care reform at all. The words Health Care appear nowhere on the brochure!

[Appalled]

Chuck K:

if this creature passes, it becomes very, very difficult to repeal and I do not think it can be modified into a Republican friendly reform.

Generally, it's best to hope for your preferred policy outcome, over how you think the politics will play out, because guesses about the politics can often be very, very wrong.

[Pofarmer]

And, FWIW, Health care that you own is ALWAYS portable. I carried the same Healthcare through 3 different employers. I was working at the first when I got it. The way it was worked, I simply paid for it when I worked for the second and third. In both instances, I was able to negotiate a higher wage to equal the cost of my healthcare, and the employer was happy he didn't have to screw with the paperwork.

[Thomas Collins]

This morning a Coakley ad ran on Dennis and Callahan, a morning radio show in the Boston area. At the end of the ad, Brown was referred to as the 41st vote against Obama's plans for change. Health care was not mentioned. Thus, in a negative ad clearly appealing to hard core Dems, health care appears to be a taboo topic.

By the way, in another ad running this morning on Dennis and Callahan, Ayla and Arianna Brown, Brown's two daughters effectively dismember Coakley's negative ads.

[DebinNC]

and don't they have to get a new CBO report

Politico, in a piece about "angry Dems" who want to end the hell they're getting back home by voting for the bill so they can get about "creating jobs", quotes Rangel saying the CBO can score "key parts of the bill" this weekend.

[Dave (in MA)]

Reportedly, Ear Leader is considering a stop in Massatoosettes to help the Coakley campaign. Bring it on, Jughead.

[Rocco]

Dark...No Sugar!

[Dave (in MA)]

OT: I wonder if Kim is aware of this new climate change theory from one of the leading experts.

[rse]

LUN is an excellent piece "Welcome to Subsidy Nation" that pulls together this idea that we're halfway to a command economy if healthcare passes.

Maybe more kneejerk Dems will begin to wake up and realize that they're funding all these favored constituencies. In return it's all increased costs, no benefits to them, little service.

[Rob Crawford]

Which was done becaaauussseeee?

Wage controls.

Amazing, innit, how things wrap back around to government attempting to much with the economy?

[Eactionlpan]

We just passed PEPFAR's second five year budget and it's 50 billion. This is free healthcare and now it's not just treatment it's 2/3s other. Dems have to get the bill passed because we already provide free healthcare and the money goes directly to governments now, so this is another reason to get the bill passed. It builds builngs for federal employees now, too. It's also pre existing conditions. It also employs federal employees because healthcare is an inherently government function, so this is another reason to pass the bill. Jobs for federal employees and cash to the government, the things dems insist on controlling.

Climate change has to be passed too for the same reason, it's a national security issue and funded the geospacial intelligence agency and now it's food security too.

[Dave (in MA)]

huh

[narciso]

OMG, did anyone see this, they can't be this stupid can they, in the LUN. Rhetorical question, "yes we can"

[Melinda Romanoff]

Whatsamatterm Dave? Can't follow the logic? It's quite simple. Example:Fish are better mathematicians than cats due to their lack of hair.

See?

[narciso]

Well no, the Dolphins because they tried to warn us of the Vogon constructor fleet, but we wouldn't listen, so their final message
'was so long and thanks for all the fish"

[Melinda Romanoff]

You keep your hitchhikers to yourself, mister.

[Danube of Thought]

It is worth noting that the lack of portability is traceable entirely to prior congressional interventions in the marketplace.

The coupling of health insurance to employment arose out of the congressional decision in the 1940s to exclude the imputed value of employee health benefits from taxation, while not simultaneously granting individuals a deduction for their premiums. The playing field could be leveled either by doing away with the exclusion or granting the deduction.

And it is simply insane to prohibit sales across state lines--another bit of wizardry from the US congress, easily correctable.

I am informed that in Switzerland all insurance is private, offered by about eighty companies who compete nationwide. Uninsureds with pre-existing conditions can purchase through a nationwide high-risk pool.

It is possible, and relatively simple, to transition to a rational system in this country that allows the free market to function, with all of the resultant innovation, while at the same time providing for the needy. It would be very hard to imagine a less rational system than the one currently being proposed by the Democrats.

[Where is Savonarola when we need him.]

Heh, Dave, just saw that from Tom Nelson's site. It's consistent with looking upon alarmists as believers in a new religion.
========================================

[MTF]

Great analysis in the post, and I agree: when individual Democrats decide this reform is too toxic, they'll starting edging away before running home completely. In the meantime, I am hoping for snow and ice on Tuesday and a news release from the White House calling Coakley a northern Creigh Deeds.

[Thomas Collins]

Breitbart reports that Obama is coming to Massachusetts to help Coakley. See LUN.

[Rick Ballard]

"If the Dems stand together its Jonestown."

May they stand with the President upon the precipice to which he has brought the Democrat Party, drain the chalice filled with his magical Kool-Aid and, arm in arm in complete solidarity, step boldly forward.

They should replace Happy Days Are Here Again with Suicide Is Painless as the party anthem.

My observation concerning them throwing the MA race in order to dodge the chalice is looking slightly more believable today.

[centralcal]

Super hero Zero will fly in on his magic cape - to Boston - on Tuesday to campaign for Coakley.

Yep, that oughta do it!

[centralcal]

oops - dueling reporters - make that Sunday.

[MTF]

Now, the Won owns it: he's going to Boston on Sunday to campaign for the Croaker!

[fdcol63]

If Obama is going, it must mean that the WH thinks there's still a chance for Coakley to squeak by.

Hopefully, we'll see a repeat of Obama's previous efforts. LOL

[Jane]

I put this in the wrong thread:

I don't think Obama is going to help. I think what is going on is an anti-government movement. And luckily Scott is seen as an outsider (probably because we only have 7 republicans in the state.)

[Rocco]

Maybe he can get back that 17% Democrats who are voting for Brown?

[matt]

I wonder how the democrats are planning on stealing this election? Honey Fitz would have had the election in the bag by now. maybe we are seeing the Coakleyization of the Democratic Party. Boy is she dumb.

[Rocco]

If there's any teeth in the latest poll and I think there is, only 1% were undecided. Everyone's mind is already made up. I think it's an effort to get out the minority vote. Can they do it? Don't know?

[Thomas Collins]

Rocco, I think Obama's AA approval numbers are still in the stratosphere, so, whether or not the trip results in a Coakley win, I think the trip will be a net plus for Coakley. I'll bet the hard core AA Dems, hard core radical abortion rights Dems, and hard core any Dem beats any GOPer Dems, will be more likely to vote on Tuesday after an Obama visit. I don't think it will overturn Brown's impending victory among legally registered voters. But it will lower the amount of fraud necessary to steal the election.

[Dave (in MA)]

I was half hoping he'd show up on Monday so that I could point out that none of the 'bats who complained about the traffic jams whenever Cheney came to town seemed bothered about Obama doing the same thing, but then I realized that Monday (MLK Day) is only a weekday for some people...

For folks not in MA, Brown's election to the state Senate in '04 also involved a special election to fill an early-vacated seat and saw the Democrat machine pulling some shenanigans designed to benefit the Democrat candidate.

[Dave (in MA)]

the amount of fraud necessary to steal the election

[Captain Hate]

But but but I thought Haiti was Preznit SuperMcFly's #1 priority.

[Appalled]

DoT:

Congress made some really bad decisions about insurance back in the 40s (th McCarran-Ferguson Act was an atrocious policy decision). But I think part of the reason for the addition of health as a benefit was the addition of wage controls during WW II. Companies could sweeten their wage packets with helth benefits, and npot run afoul of government controls.

I know nothing about the Swiss system, DoT, but now you've made me curious.I think any system, though, really needs to do two things: (i) allow anyone to obtain health insurance at a reasonable price through the pooling of risks and (ii) eliminate the job lock our employer-based system encourages.

That said, any transition from insurance it does not look like you have to pay for to insurance you absolutely pay for is going to be a tough sell.

[Jane]

I just got the following email from a friend:

My Mother....who is a life long, dyed-in-the-wool Democrat who habitually refuses to acknowledge the long term damage that her party is doing to our country...is GOING TO VOTE FOR SCOTT BROWN!!??!! It may very well be the first time she has not voted Democrat in her life. Maybe there is something brewing here?

[Jane]

Brown's election to the state Senate in '04 also involved a special election to fill an early-vacated seat and saw the Democrat machine pulling some shenanigans designed to benefit the Democrat candidate.

Dave,

I was reading about that race this morning. I know Scott's opponant and remember when he ran (and lost). I find it amazing that the dems now admit the shenanigans and it goes to show what a natural born pol Brown is, precisely because he doesn't come across that way.

I'm not worried about Tuesday. I think the deal is done.

[clarice]

Wow! Jane, I wish I could be there with you on Tuesday.

[Rocco]

fd

Yesterday Severin was saying the same thing, that the only way Obama would risk coming here is if they're confident of a Coakley win. Seems to be the general consensus but he's led me astray before. I hope he's coming because of panic.

CH

Graham thinks a side by side of Coakley & Obama contrasted to the devastation of Haiti might register with some?

Severin's repeating his theory as we post here. Still thinks that's bad for Brown!

I'm off

[Dave (in MA)]

Jane, I'm not sure I'll believe Brown won even on Wednesday if it's anywhere near close. You can be sure that lawyers all over the country already have plane tickets to Logan.

[rse]

Do you think someone at the DSCC simply didn't recognize that the high rise was the WTC tower and the destroyed Marriott?

LUN is Giuliani's and Brown's reaction.

One of you talented linkers can pull up the actual graphics.

Sickening and stupid.

[glenda]

Maybe, Obama will realize, after Coakley is resoundingly defeated, that whoever is whispering advice in his flappers, is a self-serving idiot!
No, he doesn't know the average common man thinks his policies are anti-American, so he will blame Rush or Palin--can't dump on GWB this soon, after picking him to lead disaster efforts in Haiti.
Now, if Bill & Hill are the power-grabbing democrats they have always been, this will be the beginning of her push for 2012. The dew is off the lily in regards to Obama, unions, democrat sheep, and corruption.
If Coakley were to pull this out, the lawyers will triple Florida '00 and cause a crisis that could cripple the anti-O momentum..but our lovely Jane, brave TC, can beat a Stern, Meehan and Coakley in court anytime, anywhere! Especially with all the other members of the bar on our side, i.e., the brilliant Clarice and our brooding DoT..to name only a few.

[Thomas Collins]

Jane, my logical part tells me you are correct. The high absentee ballot numbers indicate you are correct. I just hope Brown supporters continue to treat Brown as the underdog and come out on Tuesday no matter what the weather. There has been much talk of Dems staying home. I am worried about Brown supporters who are not politics junkies staying home.

Coakley's ads do indicate desperation. They have descended into unintentional parody of mindless Dem-speak. But we know which way the fraud vote will go, so Brown starts out with a disadvantage.

[Extraneus]

Yesterday Severin was saying the same thing, that the only way Obama would risk coming here is if they're confident of a Coakley win.

They said the same thing about Copenhagen - twice. And NJ, too. So I wouldn't give these "he'd only go if he knew the outcome" arguments much credence. Here's to yet another humiliating defeat for the big O.

[Rick Ballard]

Recall when the President fired up Unicorn 1 and headed to Copenhagen to secure the Games for Chicago? He did so at the command of his puppet masters in that instance and he's headed for Boston (and another slap in the face) because the same morons insist that he do so.

Watching the Great Seal of the United States bark, clap and balance a ball on his nose at the command of Soros and the commie domestic terrorist Ayers is becoming a rather sickening spectacle. I suppose it must seem necessary to the puppet masters in order to maintain what little support remains for this clown show among the brain dead progs.

[Pofarmer]

maybe we are seeing the Coakleyization of the Democratic Party. Boy is she dumb.

And Harr Reid and Nancy Pelosi are some kinds of Rhodes scholars? Chuck Schumer, Barney Frank? C'mon, it's hard to believe that any of them have an IQ much above room temperature in January in Alaska.

[Jane]

Clarice,

Come on down! I've signed up to be a lawyer for Scott if he needs me and you can help.

I think O's trip to MA is a lot like his trip to Copenhagen. He has lost his mojo.

[BB Key]

Dave(in MA)

Is there a movement to get election monitors in MA?
With Obama going on Sunday, leads me to believe the fix is in...

[Jane]

GMTA Extraneous.

BTW Martha's latest ad is about republican greed and features the WTC.

The woman is a gaffe fest. She is toast. I think she loses by 15.

BTW Tookie Ameriault is on right now here.

[JM Hanes]

I suspect Obama's trip to Boston is intended to roust out the black vote, as his most reliable constituency which might be the least likely to turn out the way it did for his own election. His video message was pretty directly aimed at the folks who were active on his behalf before, and the proximity of the Martin Luther King holiday, while coincidental, may be useful to him rhetorically. Folks who are wavering don't seem the likeliest prospects for presidential suasion, and, of course, conventional wisdom suggests that the election will hinge on turn out.

[Jane]

The latest from Bob Costa:

Sitting, Wishing, Waiting [Robert Costa]

BOSTON— Here in Beantown, at the fancy Fairmont Copley hotel, we're waiting for former president Bill Clinton to show up. Like most Clinton events, things are running late. They're pumping soul music through the ballroom speakers, but no one is dancing. The crowd here is not what I'd call diverse — lots of middle-age white liberals with graying temples and button-down shirts. I spoke with a few. The general consensus amongst Mass. Dems: They still like Coakley but can't seem to figure why she keeps fading in the polls. "She's sharp, but her campaign isn't," said one. "I'm just here to see Bill," said a couple more. Senator Kerry is scheduled to speak, as is Martha Coakley, before Bubba.

[JM Hanes]

TC:

Ironic, isn't it, that during the last election it was Obama who was touting the importance of getting in those absentee ballots?

[Porchlight]

JMH,

Yes, he tried that in NJ (remember getting "Pookie" off the couch?) and it didn't work there. I'm guessing that using this tactic in a special election, where turnout is already tricky, isn't going to yield much better results for him in MA. Especially since so many people are off on Monday and going back to work Tuesday...

[Porchlight]

Senator Kerry is scheduled to speak, as is Martha Coakley, before Bubba.

Speaking of Lurch, my goodness, wouldn't it be just heavenly to be able to refer to Scott Brown as "the junior Senator from Masschusetts"? Who would have guessed in 2004 that we would ever enjoy saying or reading that phrase?

[Jane]

Hey Rocco,

Tookie is talking about you on the air.

[Dave (in MA)]

Porchlight, even better would be to hear him referred to as "the senior Senator from Massachusetts" after November 2014.

[Porchlight]

Amen, Dave!

[JM Hanes]

I'm sure crossing my fingers, Porchlight! The GOTV effort is just the only reason that makes political sense to me for Obama to risk showing up. If Coakley does win, of course, he'll be quick to claim credit for the hat trick.

I'm hoping Massachusetts is seeing the deluge of negative ads for the desperation they represent. It's interesting, and surely purposeful, that Scott Brown has not got a parade of out of state pols descending on the Commonwealth to stump on his behalf.