"Some Democrats are worried [Martha] Coakley has been too methodical in the six-week sprint to Tuesday's special election," the Associated Press reports, referring to the Democratic nominee for the Senate seat that Ted Kennedy held until his death.

Coakley seems to be taking this criticism to heart, because lately she has been acting CRA-ZEEE! In an interview with Ken Pittman, a host at New Bedford's WBSM-AM, she said that Catholics "probably shouldn't work in the emergency room." The Glenmary Research Centerreports (see table 6, page 2) that as of 2000, 48.7% of Massachues and Massachusettes were Catholic--a slight decline from 49.2% in 1990, but still enough to make Massachusetts the most Catholic state other than Rhode Island. According to exit polls, 53% of Massachusetts voters in 2008 were Catholic. Supporting invidious discrimination against roughly half the state's voters would seem a decidedly unmethodical way of winning an election.

Coakley was defending her latest attack on her GOP opponent, Scott Brown. She is trying to paint him as an enemy of rape victims, because as a state senator he proposed a legislative amendment that, as blogger William Jacobson explains, "provided a 'religious belief' exemption to the law requiring that hospitals provide ['morning after'] contraception, consistent with state anti-discrimination law. But Brown's amendment also required that the hospital have a plan in place for the victim to get the emergency contraception from some other provider at no extra cost." Would-be conscientious objectors see such contraception as a form of abortion.

Jacobson argues that Coakley's opposition to Brown on this matter is "disingenuous":

Coakley supports the Senate health care bill which contains an even broader exemption protecting health care providers who do not want to provide abortion-related services or referrals for such services. That exemption is broad enough to include refusing to provide abortion-related services to rape victims.

The Boston Herald reports that Coakley has also managed to draw the ire of "shipping giant UPS":

Atlanta-based United Parcel Service, known for its ubiquitous brown trucks, demanded yesterday that the Massachusetts Democratic Party, which is listed as paying for the pamphlet, stop distributing it.

The mailer asks "What can Brown do to you?" It shows Scott Brown dressed up as a UPS driver and says, "He can reward corporations that ship your job overseas just like George W. Bush."

Blogger Martin Solomon has bigger scans of the front and back of the mailer, in which Brown is shown wearing a mock UPS uniform and a campaign button with a photo of George W. Bush and the slogan "4 more years," even though Bush has already served the constitutional maximum of eight years. So maybe she's making a play for the FedEx vote? Nope, the Herald also reports she's attacking the other shipping giant directly:

Appearing at a Watertown rally with more than 100 Teamsters, Coakley promised to "level the playing field" for some FedEx workers now banned from unionizing under the federal Railway Labor Act.

Coakley expressed support for the so-called "Express Carrier Protection Act," which would effectively pull thousands of workers out from under the railway act and allow them to join unions.

Oh well, at least there's the post office. Or maybe not. The Worcester Telegram & Gazettereports on a Brown rally yesteday:

Local celebrities, including former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling, former football star Doug Flutie and actor John Ratzenberger, worked the crowd before Mr. Brown took the stage. It was the biggest campaign event yet.

If Coakley came face to face with Ratzenberger, she would probably greet him with a sarcastic "Hello, Newman." In an interview with Dan Rea of Boston's WBZ-AM, she described Curt Schilling as a "Yankee fan." As the New England Sports Network reports:

Schilling responded to Coakley's statement on his official blog: "But never, and I mean never, could anyone ever make the mistake of calling me a Yankee fan. Well, check that, if you didn't know what the hell is going on in your own state maybe you could."

Schilling was a member of the 2004 and 2007 Boston Red Sox world championship teams. His bloody-sock performance in Game 6 of the 2004 American League Championship Series against the Yankees has earned the pitcher a special place in Red Sox history.

Coakley representative Alex Zaroulis responded to the comment, telling Politico that it was a "very, very deadpan" joke.

"Curt Schilling has been involved in a lot of strike outs over time," a Coakley spokesperson said in an e-mail to Politico. "I guess Martha whiffed on that joke."

You know, education--if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, uh, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in the attorney general's office.