Another Democrat drops out of Senate race in Massachusetts

And then there were five.

Bob Massie dropped out of the race to take on Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) on Friday, making him the second Democrat to pull out of the primary in less than two weeks.

{mosads}Massie’s decision reinforces the notion that Elizabeth Warren has become almost unbeatable in the Democratic primary since she announced her decision to run on Sept. 14. Newton Mayor Setti Warren dropped out of the primary on Sept. 29, noting that the dynamics of the race fundamentally changed after Warren entered and that he no longer saw a path to victory.

Massie, a former candidate for lieutenant governor, cited almost identical reasoning Friday in a message to supporters posted on his campaign website.

“The momentum of the race has shifted so profoundly that I can no longer see a path for me to win the primary and defeat Scott Brown,” he wrote.

Massie’s departure leaves Warren, businessman Alan Khazei, state Rep. Thomas Conroy, attorney Marisa DeFranco and engineer Herb Robinson in the Democratic primary.

Massie took only 3 percent in a poll of Democratic primary voters released Oct. 2 by UMass Lowell and the Boston Globe. Warren took 36 percent, while none of the other Democratic candidates pulled in more than 5 percent.

The winner of the Democratic primary will face Brown, who is seeking his first full term in the Senate after winning a special election in 2010 to replace the late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), who died while in office.