Its a mighty subdued Chris Matthews who acknowledges that the “bellwethers” in polling for the Massachusetts special election are going one direction — Scott Brown’s. Matthews also admits that the vote is a protest against ObamaCare, although with Obama himself campaigning for Martha Coakley and failing to move the needle, it’s hard to swallow Matthews’ contention that this isn’t a vote against Obama as well. Who’s the one pushing the policy against which Massachusetts is revolting?

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For those tempted to see this as a conspiratorial attempt to make Brown backers overconfident, think again. Brown’s voters can’t wait for the chance to cast a historic vote ending the Democratic monopoly on their state’s Senate seats. If anything, this kills momentum for Coakley’s GOTV efforts — which already looks rather bad, as Watchdog.org and Yid with Lid report:

Meanwhile, across the street at the Massachusetts Teachers Association, the holiday and a bitter winter storm have kept the crowds away from a phone bank for Democratic candidate Martha Coakley. As of 10:20 this morning, not a single volunteer had yet arrived for the 10am phone bank. MTA Webmaster Meg Secatore tells Watchdog.org that the severe snow and ice that have covered Massachusetts highways are keeping people from the phones.

Matthews’ last question about Coakley is the one Democrats will be asking themselves for the next several months: How do bad candidates get this far?