If you missed it late last night, we reported that at her Washington fundraiser, Massachusetts Democratic Senate candidate Martha Coakley herself fired up the crowd with this inspiring line: “If I don’t win, 2010 is going to be hell for Democrats . . . Every Democrat will have a competitive race*.”

Her defeat was also described as “Waterloo for health care.”

My spy said three things surprised him last night. First, that Democrats were rather openly and indisputably talking about the race as if it could be lost — this isn’t the usual let’s-work-as-if-we’re behind rallying cry. Second, the attendees and speakers apparently really believe that a Brown victory would kill the health-care-reform bill. The pass-it-before-Brown-takes-office strategy is apparently not that appealing. Third, how blatantly they were shaking down the lobbyists in attendance, making comments in the vein of, “if you don’t give now, you’ll have to give a hell of a lot more later.”

From Campaign Spot reader Mike:

Perhaps it’s too obvious to have pointed out, but it seems that Brown has an opportunity to share Coakley’s message with the voters over the next few days to his benefit. What better way to exemplify the self serving attitudes of the Democrat party than by recounting her dire warnings on the future of the Democrat party. For one candidate, it seems, this election remains focused on the people of Massachusetts; for the other, it’s apparent that it’s main focus is to maintain Democrat control of the Senate and be a yes vote for Reid and Obama. Independent voters don’t typically respond to the latter.

* Ma’am, if you have a competitive race, isn’t it likely that almost every Democrat is going to have a competitive race in November?