Senate Race: Pro-LGBT Martha Coakley Fights to the Finish

The stakes are high as voters rushed to the polls in Massachusetts Tuesday in a special election for U.S. Senate between Democrat Martha Coakley and Republican Scott Brown.

The Washington Post reports that the race is down to the wire to fill the seat of the late U.S. senator Ted Kennedy.

Coakley, a traditional liberal Democrat, supports the Democratic health care bill, abortion rights, gay marriage and LGBT rights. She also strongly opposes President Obama's planned troop increase in Afghanistan. And until just a few days ago, Coakley was considered the overwhelming favorite. However, this race is close and it's anyone's game at this point.

Speaking to reporters after she voted early Tuesday at an elementary school near her home, Coakley voiced confidence that she would win, saying "we've been working every day."

"We're paying attention to the ground game. ... Every game has its own dynamics. ... We'll know tonight what the results are."  She said.

Republican Brown opposes gun control, tax increases and gay marriage. He opposes partial-birth abortion, supports waterboarding to interrogate suspected terrorists, and has promised to be the "41st vote" against the Democrats' health care reform now in Congress.

In Washington, senior White House adviser David Axelrod said the White House expects Coakley to win. Axelrod said Obama, who campaigned with Coakley Sunday in Boston and cut a last-minute ad, did everything he could to help.

The Advocate reports that should she win Tuesday, Coakley would be the 60th vote needed to pass health reform, and she also happens to be staunchly pro-LGBT, having filed the sole lawsuit on behalf of a state challenging the federal Defense of Marriage Act.

The polls close at 8 p.m. EST.