The Pew Charitable Trusts

Massachusetts Treasurer Tim Cahill raised eyebrows when he defected from the Democratic Party and turned independent in order to take on his boss, Democratic Governor Deval Patrick, in this year's governor's race. To Cahill's dismay, however, it wouldn't be the last time his campaign made headlines for party-switching.

Earlier this month, Cahill's choice for lieutenant governor, former Republican legislator Paul Loscocco, shocked the state when he made his own decision to abandon his boss. Loscocco abruptly resigned from Cahill's campaign and appeared at a press conference to endorse Charlie Baker, the Republican nominee for governor, telling the media that Cahill  - who has struggled in the polls  - "cannot win." A stunned Cahill responded by accusing Loscocco of making a "backroom deal" with the GOP, and he has filed a lawsuit accusing several aides of conspiring to sabotage his campaign.

It was, as The New York Times puts it in a feature about Cahill today (Oct. 14), " a singular day in the political annals of the commonwealth ."

All the drama, however, seems to be helping Patrick, the incumbent, more than anyone else. The Boston Herald reports on a new poll showing Patrick with a 7-point lead over Baker and a 36-point lead over Cahill. "With an astonishing 80 percent of likely voters aware of Cahill's lawsuit accusing former aides of sabotaging his campaign," The Herald says, "one in four said the debacle made them more likely to vote for Democrat Patrick."

Patrick hopes to add to his momentum this weekend, when President Obama will campaign for him in Boston. Obama hasn't campaigned in Massachusetts since his unsuccessful attempt to help the state's attorney general, Democrat Martha Coakley, defeat Republican Scott Brown in a crucial race for the U.S. Senate earlier this year.