MASSACHUSETTS – AT 10:08 A.M. ET:  There are no new Massachusetts polls at this hour.  We expect there'll be more either late today, or, certainly, there'll be wrap-up polls tomorrow.  There are two full days of campaigning to go before Tuesday's vote.

The key element to watch for today – the race card.  President Obama flies in later in the day to campaign for Coakley, and the focus will be on bringing out the so-called "black vote."  African-Americans have been indifferent to Coakley.

Also, and this hasn't been discussed, tomorrow is Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  Lots of focus on minorities, minority interests, minority fears.  The Dems know how to work a day like that.

How blatant is it?  It's already started:

BOSTON (AP) -- Boston Mayor Thomas Menino has told a largely black congregation that if Democrat Martha Coakley loses the U.S. Senate race in Massachusetts, it will be a victory for people who want President Barack Obama to fail.

Coakley, who's Massachusetts' attorney general, is in a tight race against Republican Scott Brown. The special election Tuesday is being held to fill the seat left vacant by the death of U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy.

Menino appeared with Coakley at a Sunday morning prayer service in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood for victims of the Haiti earthquake.

By the end of today, or tomorrow, I wouldn't be shocked to see this even worse – Brown portrayed as a friend of racists, a racist himself, or a friend of racists who takes orders from Sarah Palin. 

The Democratic Party depends heavily on the black vote.  This could be a very ugly two days. 

January 17,  2010