Obama: I don't know Scott Brown's record, but I'll attack it anyway -- Unnamed 'White House advisers' throw Coakley under bus

This afternoon, President Obama visited Massachusetts in a last-ditch effort to save Martha Coakley's disastrous campaign for . Doesn't he look ecstatic to be there?

"He's drivin' his truck around the Commonwealth... I don't know him, he may be a perfectly nice guy... I don't know whether he's been fighting for you up until now..."

Oops. Since Scott Brown is a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army National Guard, it should be quite apparent he's been fighting for them.

The Times of London puts it plainly, headlining today's article on the race "Voters desert President Barack Obama in Ted Kennedy seat":

“People who I never in a million years thought would have voted Republican are going to him,” said Rhonda Serre, a mother of two who has lost her job but still supports the Democrats. On Friday Brown was joined by Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York. “This election will send a signal and a very dramatic one,” Giuliani said. “Believe me, the Democrats are frightened.”

Most analysts still believe the Democrats can win. But even a narrow defeat will be portrayed as a victory by the Republicans. Brown’s Senate campaign is already being studied by party strategists as a model. “He’s making healthcare a front-and-centre issue in the most liberal state in the country and it’s working for him,” said Whit Ayres, co-founder of Resurgent Republic, a group of conservative strategists.

“It’s the albatross around the Democrats’ necks.”

Obama advisers are quietly spreading word that Coakley's campaign is doomed.

Multiple advisers to President Obama have privately told party officials that they believe Democrat Martha Coakley is going to lose Tuesday’s special election to fill the Massachusetts Senate seat held by the late Ted Kennedy for more than 40 years, several Democratic sources told CNN Sunday.

The sources added that the advisers are still hopeful that Obama's visit to Massachusetts on Sunday - coupled with a late push by Democratic activists - could help Coakley pull out a narrow victory in an increasingly tight race against Republican state Sen. Scott Brown.

However, the presidential advisers have grown increasingly pessimistic in the last three days about Coakley's chances after a series of missteps by the candidate, sources said.

InTrade now has Brown trading at 65, a five-point lift over the last 90 minutes alone.


Update via Twitter: "Overheard in Coakley camp 'I wanted Whitey Bulger not Obama to stop by'". Heh.

Linked by: Michelle Malkin. Thanks!