In a debate last night, Republican state Sen. Scott Brown sought to knock the assumption that as the Democrat, Attorney General Martha Coakley is the rightful successor to the Massachusetts Senate seat long held by Ted Kennedy.

Asked by moderator David Gergen how he'd feel should he take over "the Kennedy seat" and become the deciding vote against health care reform, Brown said: "With all due respect, this isn't the Kennedy seat. It's the people's seat."

The comment was additionally noteworthy because the debate was held at UMass-Boston and sponsored by the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the U.S. Senate, which will be housed on campus. Coakley said she'd "be proud to be the 60th vote" to allow health care reform to pass Congress this year.

The candidates entered the debate with momentum on the GOP side, as a poll released over the weekend found Brown ahead by 1 point. Although another poll found Coakley ahead by 15 points, and an internal Coakley campaign poll reportedly showed her ahead by a similar margin, the race appears closer than most expected.

Brown refused to take the bait as Coakley cited rising deficits under the "reckless" Bush administration and the latter stages of Republicans' 12-year control of Congress, saying he's "not looking to address the mistakes of the past." Instead, he focused on the need for tax cuts, the existing health care reform in Massachusetts and his support for Obama's decision to send additional troops into Afghanistan -- a move Coakley criticized.

"You can run against Bush-Cheney, but I'm Scott Brown," he said. "I live in Wrentham; I drive a truck that has 200,000 miles on it now. You're not running against them -- you're running against me."

To end the debate, Coakley sought to dispel any whispers that she was cruising through the campaign as the heir apparent to "the Kennedy seat." While admitting she took Christmas Day off, Coakley turned to the cameras and insisted she was taking nothing for granted.

Although he usually agrees with Brown on the issues, Joe Kennedy (no relation), the third party candidate, delivered a better blow to Brown than Coakley could. Kennedy, who centered his longshot campaign on cutting spending, called out Brown for not practicing what he preaches -- specifically, voting against a tax cut last year in the state Senate, then running on a platform for the U.S. Senate that includes a similar tax cut.

The night was capped off by news that Brown raised $1.3 million in 24 hours -- an important boost in his attempt to pull off a big upset.