Dirty Tricks in the Scott Brown - Martha Coakley Senate Race

Dirty tricks are afoot in Massachusetts.  Here are some examples:

• Rush Limbaugh is reporting fake robocalls in Massachusetts over the last couple of days.  One posed as a conservative group urging a vote for Brown, but obviously designed to step on the sensibilities of liberal Massachusetts voters.  (In other words, it was a dishonest attempt to motivate votes for Coakley.)  A second robocall urged a vote for Coakley, claiming that pro-life voters in Massachusetts oppose Brown (they don't). 

• A Boston Globe editorial repeated the John Kerry smear of yesterday, i.e. that "Brown supporters are attempting to suppress the Coakley vote by bullying."  This is, of course, complete nonsense.  However, this big lie no doubt offers some comfort to Coakley supporters, who want to believe that a defeat can only come about by Republican dirty tricks.  If they do lose, they will have this excuse to fall back on and use it to motivate their base.

• A pro-Coakley group was seen handing out blank absentee ballots in Spanish this morning, while offering instructions on how to mark Coakley's name.  The deadline for submission of absentee ballots ended on January 15.

However, even if dirty tricks can't garner a win for Coakley today, there is always the aftermath through litigation and the courts.  Mark Steyn explains at the Corner:

Well, as a wintry election day dawns in Massachusetts, I'll believe it when I see it. If all but one of those polls are right, Scott Brown now has a lead well beyond the margin of error. But, as that Boston Globe "Dead Heat!" headline suggests, it's not necessarily beyond the margin of Acorn, the margin of lawyer, and the margin of Franken-style recounts. On the other hand, if you're minded to (as MSNBC's electokleptomaniac Ed Schultz recommends) steal the vote, you don't really want to have to steal it big, on a Mugabe-esque scale.

If Brown wins, then, the Dems are expected to use legal challenges to the election to either steal the election for Coakley, or at least delay seating Brown for as long as possible.  The latter tactic will enable the Dems to vote in Obamacare before they lose their supermajority of 60 votes; when Brown is finally sworn in, it will be too late to stop nationalized health care.

The way to put these fears to rest, however, is to elect Brown with a solid majority of the votes.  Cheating is much more difficult in the face of a convincing win.