I’m not going to rule out anything right now.Former Massachusetts Sen. Scott ”bqhatevwr” Brown • Suggesting that a senate run in New Hampshire was a real possibility for him. He made the statement in the Granite State homestead of Nashua—the first of four visits to the state in the next five weeks. Current Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen is up for reelection in 2014. source
The Massachusetts Senate race is shaping up to be one of the closest races of 2012, with Brown and Warren consistently running within just a few points of one another. If you missed tonight’s debate, here are two recaps.
In an electoral season marked by high levels of polarization, Republicans being vocal about their disdain for President Obama is beyond a norm — it’s fundamental to a broad campaign strategy. But, as go constituency attitudes, so must go the officials who’re seeking their votes. This is very evident in Massachusetts, where GOP Senator Scott Brown, fending off a challenge from Democrat Elizabeth Warren, is slated to run an ad today touting President Obama’s praise of Brown’s support of a bill against congressional insider trading. The predictable reason — Obama’s positive approval ratings in Massachusetts, and the centrist votes a Republican needs to win the traditionally blue state. (Photo by American Solutions) source
Back in January, Republican Sen. Scott Brown and his Senate opponent, Elizabeth Warren, signed a pledge to effectively ban or neutralize outside money — saying that they would donate to charity if a group advertised for them or against their opponent. Brown, who faced a tough 2010 special election for this reason, fought for the deal — which was initially seen as a coup for him because of his war chest. But since then, Warren has had one very prime weak spot — her ancestry controversy — that outside groups weren’t able to exploit because of the document above. Plus, she’s become a huge fundraiser in her own right. So Brown is suddenly having regrets. But is this an example that other campaigns can follow?
This non-endorsement pledge is unprecedented and is not being required of any other persons or entities. To us, such a pledge seems inappropriate when a non-media sponsor issues a debate invitation. We can assure both campaigns that the debate will be fair, just as the one we cosponsored between Senator Brown and Attorney General Martha Coakley in 2010 was fair.A statement by the Edward M. Kennedy Institute • Expressing anger over a main condition set by Sen. Scott Brown that he’ll only take part in senatorial debates to be held at the institute on the condition that Vicki Kennedy, Ted Kennedy’s widow who plays a key role in the institute, not endorse anyone in the campaign. Brown’s campaign manager, upon word of this statement, said Brown would decline the offer to debate: “We respect Vicki Kennedy’s decision but we regret that we cannot accept a debate invitation from someone who plans to endorse Scott Brown’s opponent.” (ht sarahlee310)
At the Massachusetts Democratic Convention on Saturday, where Warren won the party’s endorsement with 96 percent of the vote, she said, “I’d love to see some debates with Scott Brown. Let’s start. Let’s get started. I’m ready,” according to the Boston Globe.
Brown countered with specifics on Sunday, telling the Boston Herald, “I would think three or four is probably what we did with Martha [Coakley] last time, so that’s probably about right.”
Warren was silent on the matter until last night, when she agreed to the four debates.
Expect lively debates.
Watch this video. Feel good about Scott Brown. Then, after you’re done watching the clip of the Massachusetts senator draining a three pointer from half-court, know that Democrats in the state are using this as evidence that the Senator is improperly using taxpayer money to shoot campaign videos, as this video was shot by one of his staffers. Now the answer to that is “uh, of course not, because the congressional staffer was just lucky enough to catch Scott Brown shoot an underhand three pointer from half-court.” But Democrats in Massachusetts are facing trouble of their own, with Elizabeth Warren continuing to face questions about whether she improperly claimed to be Native American during her educational career. But maybe you don’t care about any of that. In that case, we recommend you just watch the video. source
Wrote a thing.
Hat tip to this headline writer.
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ladyromanahasmoved asks: Just wondering if you guys have heard of the Enemy Expatriation Act, and if you've written anything about it? Scary stuff.
» SFB says: We haven’t, but as far as we can tell, the Enemy Expatriation Act (which would strip citizenship of those accused of terrorism) is a newer version of a bill introduced in both the House and Senate in 2010 (and notably co-sponsored by Joe Lieberman) called the Terrorist Expatriation Act. That bill didn’t go anywhere, though it got play in the media. Considering that the bill was resubmitted in October, in the wake of the recent death-by-bombing of Anwar Al-Awlaki (based on a YouTube comment by Rep. Charlie Dent) I get the impression that they were hoping to build new attention for the idea after it faded away the first time. Clearly, since the only news item on the new bill is a syndicated Activist Post story (which seems to suggest that the thrust of the bill got into the NDAA indirectly, “expatriation in practice but not in name,” though their reasoning sounds like a stretch to me), and it’s gone nowhere since October, according to GovTrack, it seems to me that it wasn’t very successful in that goal. However, we’ll keep an eye out. — Ernie @ SFB
» Hey, wha’ happen? Warren’s rise may be due in part to an “announcement boost;” she was long-rumored as a candidate, and her official entry in the race may have fired up a contingent of Democratic voters. Perhaps more significant of a factor, however, is Brown’s plummeting popularity. Back in December, he was the 16th most popular Senator in the country, out of 87 polled. Now, Brown is in 61st place, and his favorability has dropped by 25 points.
“I can be outspent, but I cannot be outworked.” - Elizabeth Warren, Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate, responding to MA Senator Scott Brown’s $10 million campaign war chest.
Random thought: If she wanted to go that way, Warren would make an interesting presidential candidate someday. But would she want the job?
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