I'm not all that worried about a Scott Brown win. Why? Because Democrats will get a do-over in 2 years. The senate race in Massachusetts is for nothing more than who will serve the REMAINDER of Teddy's term, so the winner will run for re-election in 2012.
I am a resident of Mass., and I can say for certain that, absent a more attractive candidate than Coakley, the state is just too solidly Democratic to accept a right-winger as more than a seat-warmer. The political establishment would not allow it, and a Capuano or a Kennedy would be mopping the floor with Brown right now. Any Republican but a pro-choice, social moderate in the mold of Bill Weld is a non-starter for a long-term senate presence for Massachusetts.
The Democratic establishment brought this on itself, by disgusting so many people with its idea of health care "reform," bail-outs, and talking out of both sides of its mouth on the wars. As bad as Brown is, many progressive voters will not touch Coakley, and simply stay home. Luckily,...
Brown is not locked in for a 6 year term. There is nothing to indicate that the Mass political establishment will not come at Brown hard in 2012, with no intention of losing again.
UPDATE: OBAMA COULD SALVAGE THIS AND HIS AGENDA EASILY by announcing Sunday night that he has fired Stanley McChrystal and is stopping the deployments of surge troops to Afghanistan, with a view toward planned withdrawal. He has already covered himself by stating previously that there will be a number of stopping points for deployments as he proceeds. Coakley would step up and warmly welcome the president's new policy, and pledge to be the attack dog anti-Cheney whenever Cheney opens his stupid mouth about Obama "surrendering" and acting as if "we are not at war." She's a prosecutor, she'll say, let me at him.
Obama has likely lost too much credibility among progressives to be believed about the "change" at this point, but enough might decide to take one more run at Lucy holding the football to save Coakley's ass. I know too many people with Obama stickers still stuck on their front doors who are done with Obama since the surge. Those are the people he needs back now.
Would he do it? I doubt it. Democratic presidents are always more afraid of the right than they are of the left.