Scott Brown Win a Health Care "Stop Sign?"
"The excitement in the [Scott] Brown campaign is through the roof," Keller told host John Dickerson. He described Coakley's backers, by contrast, as "grim but determined."
According to Keller, Coakley is depending on organized labor to mobilize in her favor. But, he says, "there's a disconnect between the union leadership and the rank and file," with many rank and file backing Brown, the insurgent Republican candidate.
If Brown manages to pull out a win – effectively bringing to an end Democrats' 60-vote supermajority in the Senate – Democrats are promising that health care reform will continue to move forward. But the Washington Post's Chris Cillizza said on Unplugged that the party will come under tremendous pressure "to not try to game the rules and game the system to get this health care bill passed."
The White House could try to strong arm members of Congress to get the bill through, Cilizza said. But "It will be almost impossible for the White House to say we're pushing this through one way or another," he argued. "This will be a big, huge stop sign."
CBS News Chief Political Consultant Marc Ambinder noted that the White House had scheduled the president's State of the Union address for next Wednesday, earlier than many expected – which he said is a sign that it is looking to "clear the decks as quickly as possible and get onto the agenda for 2010." He said that while Democrats will likely take the Massachusetts race as a sign that they need to try to take the populist mantle, the White House has little credibility when it comes to economic populism.
Cillizza, noting along with Ambinder that President Obama is "not a natural populist," said a Brown win could mean "a lot of Democrats reassessing their electoral prospects broadly." That could lead to a number of retirements by Democrats who conclude that they can't win in the current environment.
Watch the entire conversation above.
More on the Massachusetts Senate Race:
Scott Brown's Surge Boosted by Dems' Failed Health Care Message
Massachusetts Election Brings High Turnout
If Brown Wins, What Happens to the Health Care Bill?
Brown Vs. Coakley: It's All About Enthusiasm
Brown, Coakley and the Supermajority
Coakley Trails Brown in Bellwether Polls
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