Sen. John Kerry (D., Mass.) thinks Scott Brown’s rallies in the Bay State are “reminiscent of the dangerous atmosphere of Sarah Palin’s 2008 campaign rallies,” the Boston Globe is reporting.

Kerry says Brown supporters have engaged in “bullying and intimidation tactics” in the past few days and suggests that some of them may even be from out of state. (Would the senator rather keep the race local?)

“I’m no stranger to hard fought campaigns, but what we’ve seen in the past few days is way over the line and reminiscent of the dangerous atmosphere of Sarah Palin’s 2008 campaign rallies. This is not how democracy works in Massachusetts,” Kerry said in a written statement Monday.

“Scott Brown needs to speak up and get his out of state tea party supporters under control. In Massachusetts, we fight hard and win elections on the issues and on our differences, not with bullying and threats,” he added.

Corey Welford, a Coakley spokesman, went even farther, accusing Brown of having “stoked the fires” by “smirking at threats against the Attorney General,” (a reference to this). The spokesman says Brown “has lost control of his campaign” and must “tell his out of state supporters to stand down.”

This wasn’t Kerry’s first evocation of a frenzied right-wing movement offering something like illicit support to Scott Brown. In a fundraising e-mail sent to Coakley supporters today, Kerry said “tea baggers” are “revved up…at the thought of hijacking health care reform and every chance we have at making progress in Washington.”

Nor is it the senator’s his first use of Palin as bogeywoman. In a December mailing, Kerry asked supporters to “imagine what Washington would look like if a bunch of new senators – inspired by Sarah Palin and the tea party crowd – took over.”

UPDATE – The Brown campaign responds:

“John Kerry is literally borrowing a page from the playbook of his failed presidential bid in a last-ditch effort to resuscitate Martha Coakley’s collapsing campaign. John Kerry and the Washington establishment have a proven track record of relying on unethical campaign tactics when they can’t win on the issues. Martha Coakley has run the most malicious campaign Bay State voters have ever seen, and her last-minute reliance on John Kerry’s 2004 failed strategy is further evidence that she believes her only path to victory is by manufacturing non-existent controversies,” said Beth Lindstrom, Brown campaign manager.

What page, what playbook, you ask? From the Brown camp release:

In 2004, Kerry’s Campaign Team Sent A Guidebook To Their Colorado Staff Telling Them To Launch A “Pre-Emptive Strike” If “No Signs Of Intimidation Techniques” Are Reported.

“If no signs of intimidation techniques have emerged yet, launch a ‘pre-emptive strike’ (particularly well-suited to states in which there techniques have been tried in the past).

–Issue a press release

i. Reviewing Republican tactic used in the past in your area or state
ii. Quoting party/minority/civil rights leadership as denouncing tactics that discourage people from voting

–Prime minority leadership to discuss the issue in the media; provide talking points

–Place stories in which minority leadership expresses concern about the threat of intimidation tactics

–Warn local newspapers not to accept advertising that is not properly disclaimed or that contains false warnings about voting requirements and/or about what will happen at the polls”

(Kerry-Edwards 2004, “Colorado Election Day Manual: A Detailed Guide To Voting In Colorado,” 11/04)