Democrats must really be worried about the Massachusetts special election. The DNC dispatched partisan fire-breather Hari Sevugan to help with Martha Coakley’s communications strategy. Coakley’s in trouble because the Democratic health care bill is unpopular in Massachusetts, Democratic incumbent governor Deval Patrick is a flop, and the unemployment rate is at 8.8 percent.

The rule in politics is to change the subject when your campaign is in trouble. Sure enough, Sevugan wasted no time spilling ink in a desperate attempt to link Republican Scott Brown to Sarah Palin. In last night’s debate, Coakley acted as though Brown were just a stand in for George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. And a harsh new Coakley ad tried to connect Brown to Rush Limbaugh–before everyone noticed the campaign had misspelled Massachusetts in the text.