NASHUA — Scott Brown, whose star rose fast and set quickly in Massachusetts, began charting what he hopes will be a course to redemption in a new state, declaring on Friday that he will begin building a campaign for the US Senate in New Hampshire.
His announcement at the Northeast Republican Leadership Conference marked a turning point in a months-long political flirtation that had begun to grate on New Hampshire Republicans, who were eager for Brown to declare his intentions.
Brown said he would launch an exploratory committee, a step that allows him to begin raising money and hiring staff in hopes of challenging Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat. He said he would start touring the state on Saturday....
I'll bet my Sunday Globe gives me a story.
“We look forward to meeting you and to this great journey ahead,” Brown said in a speech at the conference Friday afternoon, sparking enthusiastic applause in a room packed beyond capacity with Republican leaders and donors and national media.
The race is expected to be among the most competitive and expensive in the nation, since it is one of a handful that could determine control of the Senate. A prodigious fund-raiser and energetic campaigner, Brown had been heavily courted by Republican leaders who consider him the party’s best chance to take on Shaheen.
American Crossroads, the super PAC affiliated with Republican strategist Karl Rove, said Friday that it would launch $600,000 worth of attack ads against Shaheen, starting Tuesday. The bombardment is expected to last a week.
Fox News, where Brown had been a paid contributor since early 2013, said it would end its contract with the former senator.
Related: Scott Brown renews agreement with Fox News
Nixon Peabody, the Boston law firm that Brown joined a year ago, said he would remain an attorney there.
Did he ever do any work for them?
Before Brown can challenge Shaheen in November, he must face three Republicans in a September primary: former US senator Bob Smith, former state senator Jim Rubens, and conservative activist Karen Testerman. But Brown is expected to be the most formidable candidate in that field.
Early polls suggested that a Brown-Shaheen race could be a toss-up, but more recent surveys indicate she has a sizable lead. A Suffolk University poll released last week found Brown would pose a strong challenge to Shaheen, but still trails her 52 percent to 39 percent, with 9 percent undecided.
In his speech Friday, Brown, 54, sought to establish his ties to New Hampshire and sketch the themes of his campaign....
He blasted the federal Affordable Care Act, seizing on an issue that helped catapult him into the Senate in 2010, when he used the issue to help stir up grass-roots support from Republicans and Tea Party activists. Polls show the law is unpopular in New Hampshire, and Republicans believe it will be a major liability for Shaheen, who voted for it.
Brown indicated that his desire to repeal the law would be a driving force behind his campaign.
“A big political wave is about to break in America and the Obamacare Democrats are on the wrong side of that wave,” Brown said.
Obummer on the wrong side of history?
He argued that the health care system was “very good” before President Obama and his fellow Democrats pushed the federal overhaul.
Let's not jump the shark here.
Fergus Cullen, a former chairman of the New Hampshire GOP, said he felt that Brown’s speech “made a great first impression. I think there’s a tremendous relief among establishment Republicans. They are very excited by the prospect of a Brown candidacy. Of course, there are going to some on the far right who are not excited about this, but they’re in the minority. For every detractor, there are 10 enthusiasts as of today.”
You know where I stand, and it is not with the e$tabli$hed party leaders.
Some conference attendees, however, cautioned Friday that his name recognition would only take him so far in a state where voters are accustomed to being courted face-to-face by presidential candidates.
“I need more substantive conversations,” said James McConaha, an independent voter who traveled from Concord to hear Brown speak. “Today was kind of a pep rally, ‘rah-rah-rah’ thing.”
Matt Mowers, executive director of the New Hampshire GOP, argued that Brown would not be an automatic favorite in the Republican primary.
“New Hampshire is a traditional retail politics state,” he said. “The voters here want to hear you talk two or three times, not just once. People are much more interested in where you stand on issues and how you’ll help them.”
A national political star after he scored an improbable victory over Democrat Martha Coakley in 2010, Brown’s fortunes plummeted in 2012, when he was ousted by Democrat Elizabeth Warren....
Plummeted, huh? Was he homeless and unemployed?
Yeah, his "fortunes" really plummeted.
Democrats on Friday wasted no time labeling him a carpetbagger.
Why bring race into it?
The New Hampshire Democratic Party released a video showing footage of Brown from his past campaigns boasting that he was a “Massachusetts Republican” who had grown up in the state and planned to remain there.
“Like other New Hampshire tourists we hope he feels welcome up here and spends some money, but he should know that New Hampshire’s North Country is Jeanne Shaheen country,” the party said in a statement.
The Shaheen campaign blasted out an e-mail seeking donations, saying, “It’s the only chance we have to defend the Senate against the avalanche of Big Oil, Big Bank, and other secret corporate cash headed our way.”
You both get it!
Warren sent her own e-mail Friday asking her supporters to donate to Shaheen and rally behind her colleague from New Hampshire as they did for her two years ago.
“Scott Brown may have moved to the Granite State, but we’re not going anywhere,” Warren wrote.
Related: Liz Warren's Hot Air
In a sign of how fluid Brown’s plans were until Friday, he began the day by canceling a planned trip to Iowa next month. That visit was widely seen as a sign that Brown harbored ambitions to run for the White House in 2016.
“He texted me this morning by 6 a.m., saying he’s going to run for the United States Senate in New Hampshire and won’t be able to come to Iowa,” said Tracee Knapp, a GOP activist in Ringgold County who had invited Brown to speak to a party gathering there on April 3.
“We’re pretty disappointed,” she said. “We’re trying to scramble to get someone else to speak.”
President Brown.
Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?
--more--"
Related:
Brown Out in New Hampshire
Now he's in!
Scott Brown tied with Jeanne Shaheen in N.H. poll
Don’t dismiss Scott Brown’s chance in N.H.
"Americans for Prosperity — a group backed by the billionaire Koch brothers that is emerging as a dominant force in 2014 — has unleashed ads tying the controversial health care law to senators who could face tough reelection battles, including Democrat Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire."
Scott Brown rents out e-mail list to spammer
Looks like a “total conspiracy.”
Don’t dismiss Scott Brown’s chance in N.H.
He's already getting help:
"Americans for Prosperity — a group backed by the billionaire Koch brothers that is emerging as a dominant force in 2014 — has unleashed ads tying the controversial health care law to senators who could face tough reelection battles, including Democrat Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire."
Scott Brown rents out e-mail list to spammer
Looks like a “total conspiracy.”
