Census Finds More Moms Bringing Home Bacon
Number of Working Mothers as Family's Sole Breadwinners Reaches All-Time High; More Dads Staying at Home
Obama Massachusetts-bound: 60th vote

The president has recorded "robo-calls'' and appeared in a Web-based video for the Democratic candidate, and now will campaign in person in a close Senate race.

by Mark Silva and updated

Earlier this week, the White House said that President Barack Obama had no plans to campaign in Massachusetts for the Democratic Senate candidate, Marha Coakley.

That was before a new poll showed a virtual tie between the Democrat and Republican Scott Brown in the special election for the seat of the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, a contest that could deprive the Democrats of their 60-vote hold on the Senate at a time when Obama appears on the verge of winning his health-care initiative.

Now Obama is Bay-State bound Sunday.

"The president sees a pretty clear distinction" between the candidates,'' White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said at today's press briefing. "It's an important Senate seat," Gibbs added. "That's why the president's going."

The Hill's Aaron Blake notes: "The trip represents an unprecedented role for Obama in a special election. He didn't appear during the runoff in Georgia's Senate race in December 2008 or in an early 2009 New York special House election.''

Poll: GOP's Brown Leads Massachusetts Senate Race

As momentum shifts in the direction of the Republican candidate in Tuesday's special Senate election in Massachusetts, President Obama will campaign on Sunday for Democrat Martha Coakley.