Senate Roundup: Globe Picks Coakley, Dems Get Nervous, Brown Brigade Rallies

The Boston Globe editorial board on Wednesday endorsed Democratic Attorney General Martha Coakley for Senate.

Globe endorsement: Martha Coakley for Senate

Thoughtful and empirical, (Coakley) views issues like a lawyer building a case. She promises hard work and no illusions. And in some cases, that means scaling back the ambition of government programs to carefully monitor what works and what doesn't. Like the consumer-protection lawyer she is, she looks for measurable results.

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Affable in person, Brown nonetheless seeks to be a terminator, stopping the Democratic domestic agenda in its tracks.

Meanwhile, the Dems are upset with what they say is Coakley on cruise control — seeming to coast through the general campaign as the presumed winner. (WBUR had at first declared Coakley's primary victory as "her ticket to the seat." Now WBUR calls Brown a "true contender.")

That appears to have left Coakley vulnerable to a Brown campaign emboldened by a strong debate performance Monday, much national attention and an infusion of cash. In the most recent Rasmussen poll, Brown is trailing Coakley by two points with a margin of error of plus-or-minus 4.5 percent.

That may explain a surprise e-mail blast Wednesday from Victoria Reggie Kennedy, the late senator's widow, asking Coakley's supporters to contribute.

We have just 6 days to do the hard work of electing Martha Coakley so that we can continue the agenda that Ted made the fight of his life [...] That fight for working families cannot stop – not now, not when so much is at stake for Massachusetts and America.

Meanwhile, the Coakley campaign brings former President Bill Clinton to Boston on Friday. The Associated Press reported President Obama won't be campaigning on Coakley's behalf, despite rumors to the contrary.