Scott Brown really wants you to know he might run for Senate in New Hampshire
I'm Scott Brown. I drive a truck. And I hate ObamaCare.
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Former Senator Scott Brown won a major upset victory in Massachusetts' 2010 special election by campaigning heavily against ObamaCare. And with the 2014 elections drawing near, he's raising speculation that he'll again run for a Senate seat — this time in New Hampshire — by, what else, railing against ObamaCare.
In a none-too-subtle Fox News op-ed Tuesday, Brown decried lawmakers' "hypocrisy and double standards," which he said were "prime reasons why Washington and the politicians that work there are held in such low regard."
"Nowhere is this more evident than in the implementation and implosion of ObamaCare," he added.
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The article specifically highlights New Hampshire's troubles under the law. And without naming New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D), who is up for reelection next year, it closes by bashing Democrats and warning of a looming "unpleasant experience for any incumbent having to explain their deciding vote and continued support for the ongoing disaster of ObamaCare."
The message, in sum: 1) ObamaCare is terrible — looking at you, New Hampshire, 2) Democrats are to blame, 3) You can punish those Democrats next year by voting for Republicans, such as myself.
The "Brown for New Hampshire" buzz has been kicking around since April, when Brown — who has a second house in the Granite State — deflected a question about whether he'd run by saying he was "not going to rule out anything." Since then, he has cozied up to the state's Republicans, appeared at GOP events, posed with Republican rising star Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.), and resurfaced in the national media.
With the midterm elections now less than a year away though, he's seemingly leaning even further towards a Senate run.
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In October, Brown set up a New Hampshire-based political action committee. Over the weekend, he dropped the "MA" from his Twitter handle. (A new @SenScottBrownMA now redirects to the MA-less account.) And he's booked as the keynote speaker for the New Hampshire GOP's big holiday gala later this month.
National Republicans have urged Brown to run for the seat, and for one simple reason: He could win.
Brown would be the clear frontrunner in a GOP primary if he were to run. And more importantly, polls have shown him — and no other hypothetical candidates — running close behind Sheehan in a general election matchup.
Both parties expect ObamaCare to play a major role in the 2014 elections. If Republicans win the PR battle on that front, running Brown — whose national prominence was largely the result of his promises to fight against the health care law — would fit perfectly with that message, giving the GOP a good chance to pick off a Democratic seat.
Jon Terbush is an associate editor at TheWeek.com covering politics, sports, and other things he finds interesting. He has previously written for Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, and Business Insider.
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