TO THE WIRE

Mass. Race Gets Dirty

Brown and Coakley trade insults.

As the last day of campaigning nears its close, Scott Brown and Martha Coakley have taken off the gloves while they fight for Ted Kennedy's old spot in the Senate. A Politico poll shows Brown leading with 52 percent against Coakley's 43, and other polls find him "surging" ahead. Coakley’s backers accused Brown of smiling at a violent remark made by a supporter (he asked Brown to “shove a curling iron up [Coakley’s] butt”), and Brown lashed back by accusing Coakley of using a Martin Luther King Day celebration they both attended as a chance to campaign instead of celebrate the man’s legacy. (Martin Luther King III endorsed Coakley in a video, and said it was appropriate that she was campaigning.) "Democrats have full reason to be frantic," says Politco.