This seems like kinda big news:
Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) refused to say whether he still supports Mitt Romney for president on Wednesday, a day after he distanced himself from Romney’s now famous “47 percent” remarks in comments first made to The Hill.
“I made it very, very clear where I stand on these issues,” he told reporters Wednesday.
Uh, yeah. And very very vague on whether he supports the standard-bearer of his party.
Couple of things:
- This gives Warren an excellent line for the stump or debates. “The Senator won’t say whether he supports Mitt Romney for President. To be clear: I support Barack Obama for President.” Cheers ensue. In all seriousness, Brown’s correct to worry about a coattails effect — both in Warren’s favor due to her connection with Obama, but also with any connection between himself and Romney.
- Romney hasn’t exactly been popular in MA for a while now, starting around the “cattle rancher at a vegetarian convention” line back in 2005(?). But he hasn’t been downright poison to his fellow Republicans, either, perhaps because he hasn’t been around much. Up to this point, a Scott Brown-type GOP candidate could endorse him in a pro forma manner, and no one would really be surprised, and most wouldn’t hold it against him. Brown apparently thinks that’s changed, and he’s usually got good antennae for this kind of thing.
And if it’s changed in Massachusetts, perhaps it’s changing elsewhere as well — not to the same extent in more conservative places, but still …
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