John Kerry Windsurfs His Way Into the MA Senate Race

They must be getting really desperate:

Sen. John Kerry is rushing to the aid of Democrat Martha Coakley in the race for the Senate seat once held by Ted Kennedy, making a last-minute fundraising and get-out-the-vote push as her Republican challenger closes in.

State Attorney General Coakley seemed to have a lock on the race going in. But with the special election one week away, recent polling suggests GOP state Sen. Scott Brown could have a shot at not only winning the longtime Democratic seat but breaking the party's filibuster-proof majority in Washington.

In a bid to prevent this nightmare scenario for Democrats, Kerry, the state's senior senator, has contributed his e-mail list of 3 million people to the Coakley campaign. According to an aide, he's sent out four e-mails to drive up turnout and fundraising. And he plans to campaign for Coakley alongside former President Bill Clinton Friday in Kerry's first public appearance since his hip replacement surgery a week ago.

"This is our wake-up call," Kerry said in an e-mail that went out Tuesday seeking to drum up $225,000 for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee on Coakley's behalf. "Polls in Massachusetts are tightening, and one even shows a dead heat in the fight to keep Ted Kennedy's seat in the hands of a Democrat who will fight and vote for jobs, health care, clean energy and mainstream values."

It's a wake-up call alright, and one that the Dems never thought they'd get in Massachusetts. Even if Brown loses a narrow race, the Dems will have been forced to pour resources into a race that should have been an easy win, and that will scare the living daylights out of Dems in much closer districts.