MA vote could decide health bill's fate

BOSTON (AP) - Democrat Martha Coakley rolled out an eleventh-hour TV ad featuring President Barack Obama amid intense get-out-the-vote efforts by both parties on the eve of Tuesday's crucial Senate election in Massachusetts.

"Martha knows the struggles Massachusetts working families face because she's lived those struggles. She's fought for the people of Massachusetts every single day," Obama is shown saying in the spot during a gymnasium rally at Northeastern University. He says she "took on Wall Street" as attorney general, while going after big insurance companies and predatory lenders. "Every vote matters, every voice matters. We need you on Tuesday," he adds.

The commercial comes one day before Tuesday's special election for the late Edward M. Kennedy's Senate seat. Obama needs Coakley to win to deny Republicans the ability to block his initiatives with a 41st filibuster-sustaining GOP vote.

As the final day of campaigning began, Coakley told over 1,000 at a Martin Luther King Jr. breakfast in Boston that the voting is a chance to act on the civil rights leader's dream.

"If Dr. King were here today, he'd be standing with us," she told the heavily black audience. "And I know that he would be standing with us on the front line for health care, not as a privilege, but as a right."

The Massachusetts attorney general also laid blame for the country's current economic problems not with Obama, but his Republican predecessor, George W. Bush.

"I wish there were easy answers to the tough problems we have," Coakley said, echoing an Obama refrain. "Do not forget that they are problems that were not created by, but inherited by, our president, Barack Obama."

Brown didn't have a speaking role at the breakfast, and he faulted Coakley for using it to tout her candidacy. He also brushed aside criticism from Obama, who had said Brown's truck would drag the country back to the failed policies of the past.

Brown has featured his pickup truck in television ads as a symbol of the traveling he's done to reach out to voters.

"I thought it was pretty funny," the Republican said of Obama's comment. "People are having difficulty even buying trucks these days."

Brown also said he's not paying attention to polls showing him tied with or slightly ahead of Coakley. He credited his surge in the polls to voters' desire for change.

"They are tired of business as ususual," he said. "They want someone who isn't part of the machine or an insider."

A third candidate in the race Joseph L. Kennedy, a Libertarian running as an independent, said Monday he's been bombarded with tens of thousands of e-mails from supporters of Brown from across the country urging him to drop out and endorse Brown.

"We had to shut down our e-mail account," said Kennedy, who said he's staying in the race until the end. "They're accusing me of being responsible for Obamacare."

Both Kennedy and Brown oppose the health care bill, but Kennedy said those sending the e-mails feared he could draw votes from Brown and help Coakley, who supports the bill. Kennedy, who is polling in the single digits, is no relation to the late senator.

The Brown campaign said it hasn't urged supporters to e-mail Kennedy.

Coakley has seen the double-digit lead she had two weeks ago evaporate under a strong challenge by Brown.

Voter turnout is normally low in special elections, but even in staunchly Democratic Massachusetts, apprehension about Obama's health care overhaul is fueling a huge wave of populist support for Brown. Another imponderable is a fresh winter snow that could cause hardships for people trying to get out to vote.

Polls show that independents, who make up 51 percent of the state's electorate, have responded enthusiastically to Brown. His campaign is targeting them as well Republicans, who are outnumbered by Democrats 3-to-1 in the Bay State.

Preparing for the worst, the White House and Democratic allies in Washington tried to plot a way to salvage their health care package if Brown wins. One scenario would push House Democrats to accept the health care bill the Senate passed last month even though it offers fewer people coverage.

Trying to wrest back the populist mantle, Obama told supporters Sunday that a vote for Brown was a vote to protect Wall Street at the expense of ordinary Americans.

The Coakley and Brown campaigns also were bombarding supporters with automated phone calls. The Democrats used appeals from Clinton and Obama, while Republicans have relied on calls from Brown himself and beloved Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling.

Concern among Democrats about turnout has been palpable. At a largely black church service Sunday, Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino implored congregants to call at least 10 friends and make sure they planned to vote Tuesday.

At a Coakley rally in Hyannis Sunday, state Senate President Therese Murray went the high-tech route. "We need you on Facebook, on YouTube, on e-mail, texting ... however you communicate," she said, encouraging supporters to use those tools as a way to get their friends to show up at the polls.

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AP National Political Writer Liz Sidoti and Associated Press Writer Steve LeBlanc contributed to this report.