Barney Frank: Martha Coakley is not Barack Obama in drag

 Mr. Frank told reporters the race was only about personality until recently.:

 “To the extent that she wasn’t doing as well as she expected, it was because the issues weren’t a factor in the race,” said Mr. Frank “It was a personality contest. Mr. Brown is not running as a kind of people committed conservative that he is and that he has the right to be. He’s running as a nice guy.”

Mr. Obama took a gamble to campaign in Boston today for Ms. Coakley. Virginia and New Jersey Democratic candidates Deeds and Corzine did not benefit from an Obama presidential visit to their respective states. When asked about how this race could affect Mr. Obama’s own popularity, Mr. Frank said, “The fact that he was doing better than she in a personality contest?--Nothing.  Obama is not Martha Coakley in drag, and what I thought happened was that this became, as I said, a personality contest.”

 Mr. Obama can indeed draw crowd in Boston. According to the campaign, 4000 supporters made it inside the Northeastern University Sports complex to see the president. 1500 made it into the main auditorium, while 2500 people watched the event from a feed in an auxiliary space. One thousand individuals were turned away.