Mass. Senate candidates shift to bank tax debate

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The U.S. Senate candidates in Massachusetts clashed Saturday over a proposed bank bailout tax, abandoning health care for a new issue that the White House hopes will attract mainstream voters angry about Wall Street abuses and that Republicans say affirms Democrats as a pro-tax party.

A day before President Barack Obama's late visit to try to preserve a 60th Senate vote critical to his agenda, Democrat Martha Coakley and Republican Scott Brown tussled over the president's tax plan. The candidates are in a dead heat heading into Tuesday's election to replace the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, despite the state's long Democratic tradition and Kennedy's cherished stature.

"When President Obama says, `Let's get our taxpayer dollar back,' I'm standing with him, and I'm standing with you," Coakley told union members about to canvass on her behalf.

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"I have a lot of friends out there that are talking about voting the other way for whatever reason," state Rep. Marty Walsh, a Boston Democrat, told the crowd. "Look at their records, and then come back and tell me with a straight face that our friends can vote for the other side, because the other side doesn't care about working-class people."

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Robert Haynes, president of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, said: "A lot of our members are dramatically uninformed about this election and about the positions of the two candidates in this race."