Written By : John Hawkins

On Monday, I wrote a post called “Very Skeptical About Scott Brown’s Chances.” In that post, I pointed out that there hadn’t been any polling released in Brown’s race and since that was the case, he was likely way behind.

Of course, I also said this:

Now, if someone can produce a poll showing that Brown has a chance, I’m all for jumping in with both feet, but at the moment, I’m not convinced he can win.

Well, Rasmussen has now polled the race:

A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely voters in the state finds Coakley ahead of Brown 50% to 41%. One percent (1%) prefer some other candidate, and seven percent (7%) are undecided.

The special Senate election will be held on January 19 and special elections typically feature low turnout. That’s one reason the race appears to be a bit closer than might typically be expected for a Senate race in Massachusetts. Kennedy carried 69% of the vote when he was reelected in 2006.

So, with roughly two weeks left before the election, Brown is down by 9 points. Moreover, Coakley is at 50% and there are only 7% undecided.

Assuming those numbers are relatively accurate, and since Rasmussen is a solid pollster, we have reason to think they’re probably close — does Brown have a chance?

Honestly, the odds against Brown are still steep — but steep isn’t the same as hopeless. Given that Brown is generating genuine excitement and turnout is likely to be low, he does have an outside chance to pull this race out.

As I said in the last post, if we could win this one, it would be a really big deal:

If we could take Kennedy’s seat, it would send out shockwaves across the political landscape and it would deny the Democrats a 60th vote.

Since those are the stakes and we’re in the running, it’s time to do what we can for Scott Brown — and what’s that? Head over to his website and chip in a few bucks, volunteer if you live in Massachusetts, or sign up to make get-out-the-vote phone calls if you live out of state.

If you’re not sure whether to do it, just think of the howls of agony from the Left if a Republican could take Ted Kennedy’s seat! Heck, even if Brown lost, having him get close in a state like Massachusetts could panic some more Democrats into retirement before the 2010 elections. There are no guarantees in life, but this is one election that’s worth the time, money, and effort.

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