Dem poll: Coakley 50, Brown 36

Still, by commissioning and then disclosing private polling showing Coakley with a significant lead, Democrats are attempting to send the message that they are both taking the race seriously and that the party’s 60-seat majority in the Senate is not threatened. With some public surveys showing a close race over the last week, Democrats in Boston and Washington have grown increasingly nervous about the January 19th election to fill the seat of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy.

While no professional Democrat believes — or at least will admit — that Coakley could actually lose, the public polls showing a competitive contest have amounted to a wake-up call, alerting senior officials to a race few had been paying attention to because of the state’s overwhelmingly liberal tilt.