The race to succeed the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy has turned into a proxy battle over the fate of President Barack Obama's healthcare overhaul.
A once-pedestrian contest between Democrat Martha Coakley and Republican Scott Brown has coarsened with a week to go, as the two have cast themselves as custodians of the pivotal Senate vote to determine the bill's fate.
"As the 41st senator, I can stop it," Brown said last week during a debate, highlighting his potential to be the breakthrough Senate vote that upholds a GOP filibuster. While he opposes the bill, the state senator voted in 2006 in favor of a Massachusetts universal health care bill that has largely been the model for the Obama legislation.
The stakes are so high Democrats won't rule out taking as long as a month to certify the election results — should Brown win — to prevent a Republican from assuming the seat until the Senate completes its work on Kennedy's hallmark legislation.
While the majority of voters in Massachusetts are unenrolled in either major party, there is little empirical evidence to suggest Coakley will lose the special election. The state has a Democratic House and Senate, a Democratic governor and all six constitutional officers — including Coakley, the attorney general — are Democrats, as well.
In particular, Republicans are hoping a closer-than-expected finish would bolster a claim that Democrats are at risk of losing their congressional majorities. Democrats want to protect the president from embarrassment over health care, his top domestic priority.
Vicki Kennedy, the senator's widow, delivered an emotional endorsement of Coakley last week. She and four other speakers said electing Coakley was necessary to preserve the crucial 60th Democratic vote that has prevented Republicans from stopping the overhaul bill.
"The choice is very simple," Coakley told the crowd. "With your help and your vote on Jan. 19, we can make Sen. Kennedy's vision of affordable and quality healthcare for all Americans a reality."
The third candidate, independent Joseph L. Kennedy, has largely been relegated to the sidelines. The Libertarian businessman is not related to the late senator.
Edward Kennedy died Aug. 25 of brain cancer after a nearly 47-year Senate career.
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