BULLETIN:  OBAMA TO MASSACHUSETTS – AT 3:34 P.M. ET:  Reversing an earlier decision, President Obama has decided to fly to Massachusetts Sunday to campaign for Martha Coakley.

That isn't good news.  First, the president is effective, and you can be sure the race card will be played, if with some subtlety.  The Dems have run an unbelievable smear campaign against Scott Brown this week.  Bill Clinton will also be coming.

Second, internal polls might show Coakley gaining or holding her own, with a good chance of winning.  I can't imagine Obama humiliating himself (again) by campaigning for a lost cause.

Third, all the press attention by the liberal Massachusetts press will be drawn toward Obama and Coakley together.  Obama still has a 60-percent approval in the state.   From The Washington Post:

As we said earlier, the election is Tuesday, not today.  Brown has been surging, but he's surging in a heavily Democratic state.  This isn't won by any means.  While bringing in all the Dem firepower shows how close the election is in a heavily Democratic state, and shows the trouble the Democratic Party is in, a Coakley win will hold the Dem seat, securing the 60th vote needed to stop GOP filibusters.

January 15, 2010