RUSH: Okay. ”Bottom has fallen out’ of Coakley’s polls; Dems prepare to explain defeat, protect Obama.’ That’s the headline to a Byron York story today in the Washington Examiner. I’ll tell you how to gauge this. The White House, I’m sure they’ve got 24/7 polling going on, and their internal polling is probably better than anything we’re seeing, and they’re talking about discussing whether or not to send Obama up there, ‘Well, if we send him up there it’s going to look like he’s leaving Haiti.’ But he’s not in Haiti. And Clinton isn’t in Haiti. And all this aid has not yet reached anybody in Haiti, by the way. More on that in just a second. So the conventional wisdom is if Obama does go up to Massachusetts before the election on Tuesday, it will mean that their internal polling at the White House shows that his appearance would push her over the finish line. If he doesn’t go, it will be as good an indicator as any poll is that they don’t think she can win, that Brown is going to win and they’ll distance Obama from the whole mess. He did not help Creigh Deeds when he went in and he didn’t help Corzine in New Jersey when he went in, just like Clinton doesn’t help people when he goes in. Clinton is going to go into Massachusetts.
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RUSH: Okay, breaking news. MSNBC is reporting Obama is going to Massachusetts to stump for Coakley, to stump for Martha Coakley. Now, it’s one of two things here. They must have polling data which shows he can push her over the top. Or else they are so desperate to hold onto this seat that they’re willing to pull out all the stops and roll the dice. I can’t imagine they would send him up there if they’ve got polling data that shows Brown’s going to win this thing. So we shall see. I know he went in there for Deeds and Deeds was way, way down, but they had already thrown Deeds under the bus before he went in there. They haven’t thrown Coakley under the bus. Anyway, Bill Clinton, ladies and gentlemen, is also going in and has done an ad for Martha Coakley.
(playing of Bill Clinton spoof ad)
RUSH: You heard it here, an exclusive on the EIB Network: The first ad for Martha Coakley from Bill Clinton, and Obama’s going in there on Sunday.
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RUSH: Let’s see. Obama went into Virginia for Creigh Deeds, struck out. He went to Copenhagen for the Chicago bid for the Olympics. We were first of the nations to be eliminated. Ahem. So they will send him places where it’s not a slam dunk. New Jersey, it didn’t help Jon Corzine. Obama will go into Massachusetts on Sunday afternoon for Martha Coakley. We have a track record of how his appearances do, but this is a very liberal state.
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RUSH: Okay, people are sending in their ideas as to why Obama is going up there. Idea number one: ‘His excuse for Coakley losing will mirror his stimulus package rationale: It would have been much worse had Obama not gone in to help her.’ Another suggestion, possibility: ‘It may be a message to those in the Democrat Party that Obama will stay in the bunker with them. He may be going up to campaign in a losing campaign to demonstrate he’s not abandoning Democrats, Blue Dogs or otherwise.’ Both of those are very credible possibilities. We also make the mistake of assuming that these people are smart. No smart people woulda sent him into Copenhagen or wherever it was that the Olympic competition was going on unless it was in the bag. Presidents just don’t do this. You don’t burn capital this way. You don’t have a summit with somebody before knocking down, nailing down an agreement before you even get together. The summit is symbolic.
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RUSH: This is where Gibbs says Obama is going up to Massachusetts but he’s not on the ballot. He sounds a little defensive here about this. Bill Plante said, ‘A lot of polling suggest that problems Democrats have had in places like New Jersey and Virginia, Massachusetts, is based on public dislike of what they perceive to be health care. Is it getting any traction in places like Massachusetts? I mean, you got a candidate who was perceived to be a runaway, walk-away winner who’s now in danger of losing?’
GIBBS: As far as elections B-Bill, we’re… Huh-huh. (nervous laughter) We’re not… Uh, we’re not on the ballot in uh, uhhh… There — there’s a campaign that’s going on in Massachusetts. We’re happy to lend our support. You heard the president say yesterday: We’re going to get health care done, and we’ll be happy to have a campaign on whether you’re for the status quo, whether you’re for protecting insurance industry profits, whether you’re for protecting bank company profits, or whether you’re on the side of the American people. We’ll be happy to have that, uh…
PLANTE: We hear from polling that people aren’t buying that. I mean, do you think the president can go and turn it around?
GIBBS: I think the president believes he can be helpful, uh, and is happy to accept the invitation.
RUSH: Wait just a second here. The first thing old Gibbs says here is ‘we’re not on the ballot’? We’re not on the ballot? Then ‘whether you’re for protecting insurance industry profits, whether you’re for protecting bank company profits or on the side of the American people’? What, the American people are opposed to profit? What do you think employs them? What the hell employs the American people? Why did we bail out the banks, Gibbs, if we didn’t want them making a profit? What the hell was that all about? We wanted to save the banks, right? You told us and everybody else told us that if the banks failed, the financial system of the world would collapse and we were all going to be in poverty. So we had to save the banks, we had to save Wall Street. That means keep ’em profitable. So now ‘profit’ is an overall big enemy, and they try to make it sound like the American people oppose profit, too. How do these people think businesses stay in business? But he says, ‘We’re not on the ballot.’ We’re not on the ballot. Major Garrett of Fox News, ‘Bob,’ meaning Gibbs, ‘You told us when asked earlier this week the president was not going to Massachusetts. What changed?’
GIBBS: He got invited.
GARRETT: That’s it? That’s all? You don’t think that her prospects, Martha Coakley’s, are better now and there’s more likelihood the president can be productive in this trip —
GIBBS: Well, I — I — I —
GARRETT: — and not suffer any negative consequence if she doesn’t lose, if she lets him come?
GIBBS: I — I — I think the president believes that, uh, it’ll — it will be a productive stop (nervous laugh) whether, uh, it was announced on Tuesday or now. Uhh, we have an invitation from the Coakley campaign, and we’re going.
GARRETT: Okay. And you never had one until today?
GIBBS: ‘Til today.
RUSH: Really? Reeeeally? Really? It’s not believable, Gibbs! You only today got an invitation to go up there? Major Garrett said, ‘[T]he president could be productive in this trip and not suffer any negative consequences if she loses? Has this all changed? You don’t think her prospects are better now?’ He was just invited today? I’m sorry, folks, it’s just not believable.
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RUSH: Barney Frank has told reporters in Washington this afternoon, quote: ”If Scott Brown wins it will kill the health bill.’ The Massachusetts congressman said the Democrat candidate Martha Coakley should have campaigned harder for the seat held for decades by Edward Kennedy.’ Is he throwing her under the bus here? I mean shoulda campaigned harder? He’s sounding like it’s over. No, oh, sorry, ‘Nonetheless Frank says he thinks Coakley will win Tuesday’s contest,’ but if Brown wins, health care is dead.
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RUSH: I’m not sure here, folks, but it sounds like Martha Coakley asked for White House support days ago, ’cause I got a story in the Boston Herald here from yesterday. Coakley said Wednesday that she hasn’t heard from the White House. ‘I welcome his support, but we got a lot of support here in Massachusetts. I think he has a got a lot on his plate.’ Robert Gibbs said yesterday, Wednesday, the president had no plans to visit Massachusetts even though he realizes a lot is at stake. It’s just not believable that he was only asked to go up there today. And when Gibbs says, ‘We’re not on the ballot,’ that’s almost throwing her under the bus. But look out for the Boston Globe and a late hit piece on Monday.