It’s been five new attacks a day from the Coakley campaign, so it’s hard to say if they’ve settled on the final push. But it appears that they want the last four days to be about President Obama’s $90 billion bank tax. She’s for the tax hike. Brown is against it.
On one level, there’s nothing new here for either candidate. Martha “We’ve Got to Get Taxes Up” Coakley is already on the record for billions in new taxes. Scott Brown is the tax cutter.
What gives this a problematic wrinkle for Brown is that the energized part of his base, the “tea party” voters are very mad about the bailouts and the big banks. This could be a wedge issue for Coakley to use to cool off some of his support.
Coakley’s problem, however, is that there are so many negative ads with so many unrelated negative messages that it’s going to be hard to get everyone’s attention on the bank-tax issue. And even if she does, Brown’s got the easy answer of “She wants to raise taxes, I don’t.”
Still, there’s plenty of time for a game-changing gaffe in a tight race like this one. In Massachusetts, Scott Brown will be the underdog until every vote is cast.
And, based on what the Democrats up here appear to be planning, for at least ten days thereafter.