Massachusetts Republicans try to tie Elizabeth Warren to Martha Coakley

Republicans in Massachusetts are using the ongoing wrangling over contraception coverage to tie Elizabeth Warren to another Democrat — state Attorney General Martha Coakley.

Coakley's loss to Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) in a 2010 special election to fill the seat that former Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) held for more than four decades was the biggest stain on Massachusetts Democrats' pride in recent memory.

Coakley and Warren in most respects have nothing in common as candidates; unlike Coakley, Warren is running a tightly disciplined, mostly gaffe-free campaign that takes nothing for granted.

But as Coakley did in 2010, Warren is now attacking Brown for his support for conscience exemptions for religious groups that object to certain medical procedures or services.

Brown has signed on as a cosponsor to an attempt by Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) to override President Obama's compromise offer on contraception coverage and allow employers to completely opt out of offering their employees coverage for services they oppose.

“Scott Brown is on the wrong side here, standing with Washington and Republican extremists and against the people of Massachusetts — our families, our seniors, and everyone who relies on health insurance to get the care they need,” Warren said in a statement.

Republicans seized the opportunity to point out that Coakley had lobbed similar complaints against Brown for supporting conscience protections, despite the fact that Kennedy, a devout Catholic, supported them.

Brown emailed his supporters Wednesday to defend himself against Warren's criticism and to dub it a strike against constitutionally protected religious freedoms.

"My last opponent, Martha Coakley, took the same position and said Catholics who work in emergency rooms should find a new line of work," Brown wrote. "This attitude is highly offensive to all Americans, not just people of faith."

The Massachusetts Republican Party chimed in as well, claiming Warren was borrowing from Coakley's failed playbook and foretelling her own failure.

"This is a ridiculous claim from a desperate campaign," said Warren spokeswoman Alethea Harney.

A source close to GOP efforts to defeat Warren acknowledged that she and Coakley are very different candidates, but said Republicans would take advantage of places where the two share political vulnerabilities.

"We're kind of taking it on a case-by-case basis," the source said. "Whenever possible, if we can compare her to someone we've beaten, that's not a bad strategy."

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