SHAMEFUL, DISGRACEFUL – AT 4:52 P.M. ET:  If you want a sickening example of what's being thrown at Scott Brown by the Democrats in Massachusetts, here it is, via The Plum Line:

This is absolutely brutal: Massachusetts Dems have dropped a mail piece accusing GOP Senate candidate Scott Brown of wanting hospitals to turn away “all” rape victims.

The mail piece — sent over by the Brown campaign — shows pictures of women who are supposed to have been raped, one of them in a wheelchair bent over with her head in her hands. It says: “1,736 WOMEN WERE RAPED IN MASSACHUSETTS IN 2008. SCOTT BROWN WANTS HOSPITALS TO TURN THEM ALL AWAY.”

The mailer — paid for by the Massachusetts Democratic Party — says the claim is based on “a law to let emergency hospitals turn away rape victims in need of emergency contraception.” That appears to be a reference to a Brown-sponsored 2005 amendment that would have exempted hospital personnel, on religious grounds, to inform victims of the availability of the morning after pill.

As Coakley’s own Web site says, after Brown’s amendment was rejected, he voted in favor of the bill to require emergency rooms to provide rape victims with emergency contraceptives, and the whole debate seems to be more nuanced than the mailer suggests.

The mailer could be related to the fact that internal Dem polling reportedly shows Coakley under-performing with less-affluent women.

COMMENT:  Nice, huh?  But remember, things like this sometimes work.  Plum Line is also reporting internal Coakley pulls showing her underperforming among African-Americans, which is certainly one reason why Obama is flying in tomorrow.  Watch the fear tactics escalate.  It is turning into an ugly smear campaign run by masters of the craft.

January 16, 2010