Polls show Brown closing gap on Coakley

BOSTON, Mass. (WWLP) - The race for the late Ted Kennedy's U.S. Senate seat is shaping up to be a real nail-biter. The results of a new poll show democrat Martha Coakley with 49 percent and republican Scott Brown with 47 percent of likely voters.

Just last week a poll had Coakley leading Brown by eight points, and now, with less than a week to go, that margin has slimmed to two.

It's the final stretch of the race for the Senate seat with Republican Scott Brown's poll numbers on the rise, and Democrat Martha Coakley's slipping.

Two local experts say it has less to do with any deficiency on Coakley's part than it does with the timing. They say there's a rising tide of dissatisfaction with the party in power.

"This has really significant national implications, because of course one vote shifts the balance of power, let's see what happens over the next week, how many major democrats, how many major republicans will start to show up," said John Baick, professor of History WNEC.

Political analyst Tony Cignoli agrees. He says the next few days will be a political who's who here in the Bay State. "What is amazing right now, is the amount of money and people that are pouring into Massachusetts. President Clinton will be here tomorrow, it's possible that President Obama will be here on Sunday, the White House is weighing out right now that visit," said Cignoli.

Cignoli says if the President does travel here to the Bay State, it will be contingent upon on Coakley's ability and chances to win on Tuesday. The political insider says the President won't want to be associated with a loss, so he'll opt out if consultants don't think the attorney general can pull off a decisive win.

"If she should not prevail on Tuesday, Election Day, that could be a very bad precursor to come in 2010, and it's huge fodder for the Republican party," continued Cignoli.

Professor Baick says another reason for the tighter than expected race is that conservatives are excited with the prospect of taking a Senate seat from Democrats.