Massachusetts: Dems turning on Coakley?

The knives are out in Massachusetts. Reminiscent of the last days of the Creigh Deeds 2009 campaign for governor in Virginia, Byron York at the Washington Examiner reports that attacks on Martha Coakley from other Democrats are getting personal in these final hours:

"She's kind of aloof," [a Democrat strategist] says. "There are people who will vote for her who don't really have a sense that they like or trust her. The Kennedys aren't really fond of her. She basically announced her campaign the day Ted died, and didn't give Vicki the opportunity to think about [running to replace her husband]. From the Kennedy side of the ledger, there's no great love for Coakley. They look at her as kind of a predatory politician."
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The strategist spoke approvingly when he quoted a fellow Democrat who said, "'I'd rather have Scott Brown for two years than Martha Coakley for the rest of my life."

Ouch.

Meanwhile, Michael Barone is looking at a Politico poll even as Real Clear Politics has Scott Brown surging, and wonders if young voters are falling behind Brown:

Politico has commissioned another poll from Insider Advantage on tomorrow’s Massachusetts Senate election. It shows Brown ahead 52%-43% and, amazingly, leading among voters under 30 by a 61%-30% margin.

Since that group in Massachusetts backed Barack Obama in 2008, and if the numbers hold through today's election, it would signal a huge shift and an opportunity for Republicans.

In continuing coverage today from the Washington Examiner, its chief congressional correspondent Susan Ferrechio reports that a light snow is falling in Massachusetts as voters head to the polls. The candidates will spend election day campaigning in different ways ... Brown will hit the phones to encourage supporters to be sure and vote while Coakley will visit precincts across the commonwealth to greet voters. Perhaps she's not phone banking because of this.

Fox News reported this morning that 50% of that commonwealth's voters were expected to turn out. However, the Examiner is reporting:

... turnout is expected to be extremely light - under 10 percent according to some estimates, which some political analysts believe could benefit Brown because his supporters have so far been more enthusiastic and perhaps more determined to get out the vote.

Mark Tapscott reports on possible voter fraud in this election:

A new study of the nation's voter registration records finds 3.3 million dead voters are still on the rolls - including an estimated 116,483 in Massachusetts - while another 12.9 million who are ineligible also remain.

The Massachusetts election has been called a nationwide election. Examiner reporter Matthew Sheffield taps into the reasons:

Instead of pursuing impossible dreams, government needs to cut back and focus on its basic core competencies and allow citizens the freedom to succeed. People are the power we need to get America back on its feet economically, not the government.

That, in essence, is the message of the tea party movement and why, despite persistently negative press from the left-dominated mass media, the tea partiers enjoy greater popularity than either the Democratic or Republican parties.
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In his time, Ronald Reagan proved that this type of message has lasting value. More recently, Republicans in New Jersey, Virginia have proven this more recently. By contrast, lackluster Democrats like Creigh Deeds, Jon Corzine, and (presumably) Martha Coakley are making the exact same mistake that Republicans made countering Obama, sticking to petty arguments about Wall Street bankers and trumped up abortion fear-mongering.

Even if Coakley does manage to somehow pull ahead at the finish, the very fact that a Republican has done this well in Massachusetts ought to speak volumes. Are Republican politicos listening though?

Massachusetts represents that 60th vote for health care, something a recent poll commissioned by James Carville showed was embraced by only one-third of Americans. Democrats are missing the pulse of America.

Perhaps that whiplash is being felt in Virginia, New Jersey, and now possibly Massachusetts. When will Democrats begin to listen to the voters?