Scott Brown’s cold feet

[DonViejo]

Scott Brown’s cold feet

All those fears about Democrats losing John Kerry's seat may be melting away before our eyes

BY STEVE KORNACKI

The working assumption of every Democrat in Massachusetts and Washington has been that Scott Brown will enter the special Senate election to replace John Kerry, and there have been indications in the past week that he was preparing to do just that. But now there’s this, from veteran Boston Globe reporter Frank Phillips:

With time running short, Washington Republicans have begun a “full court press’’ to persuade an increasingly reluctant Scott Brown to run in the special election to replace John F. Kerry, say two leading Massachusetts GOP figures.

The eleventh-hour effort, coordinated by the National Republican Senatorial Committee, comes as those familiar with Brown’s deliberations are becoming convinced that he will not run and instead will look for a job in the private sector.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1251282890

The Republican panic stems from a belief that Brown is their party’s best – and only – hope of winning back a seat in deep blue Massachusetts. That view is well-grounded. Brown is the only Republican to win a Senate seat from the state since 1972 and the only Bay State Republican since 1994 to win federal office. And despite his eight-point defeat to Elizabeth Warren last November, he remains broadly popular with the electorate – enough that a poll this week put him slightly ahead of the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination, Ed Markey, and close to the 50 percent mark.

http://www.salon.com/2013/02/01/scott_browns_cold_feet/

[babylonsister]

1. Makes me wonder what might be surfacing about Brown to

give him cold feet.

[4Q2u2]

2. Cold Feet

First I want to say Holy Crap how many post is that. Were you waiting on your key board ready to type when the cut the ribbon?

What might and did surface was possibly Steven Lynch, how is he going to out Blue Collar him.

"Yesterday I saw Lynch’s barn coat, ready for action, hanging in the front hall of his G Street home It’s canvas,” said his wife, Margaret. “Carhartt.”

He bought it for “48 bucks at Sears,” Lynch himself recently told some Plymouth Democrats, adding that Brown’s suede barn coat “cost about 1,600 bucks at Saks.”

"Actually, it cost less than half that. But I think you see where Lynch was going, and where he’ll go nonstop when, as expected, he announces his Senate candidacy today."

"It’ll be Lynch vs. Brown, a Regular Guy smackdown. And Lynch knows he’s got the better story to tell."

[Mass]

4. Nothing. He just had two difficult races and there are two more for the next two years. A lot for a

man.
Let's elect Markey, a true progressive.

[babylonsister]

6. Maybe $ is his real motivation; might be

joining the private sector? Whatever it takes...

[TheCowsCameHome]

5. The fact he may have to run against a man.

Thus far he's tried to bully his way through campaigns where a woman was his opponent.

I'm beginning to think he's going to sit this dance out.

[grantcart]

9. Polls give him relatively high negatives. Its a losing strategy.

[madinmaryland]

16. Burn-out. He has basically spent the last three years running for office.

Take a year off and run for governor. He's got name recognition now and the ability to fund raise from the Cock Brothers.

[TroyD]

22. Will the GOP back Brown for Governor, though?

Or will they feel he has stabbed them in the back by throwing away a chance to win the MA Senate seat and leaving them high & dry?

[Fearless]

3. He's in it for the money.

[politicasista]

19. ..and more n/t

[Justice]

7. Lynch is everything Brown pretended to be

I don't love everything about Lynch but he would mop up the floor with Brown. Markey is more of a female Martha Coakley (IMO).

IMO the only republican who would have a shot at winning (besides Brown, who has a shot but IMO will not win, particularly against Lynch) is Ralph Martin.

Ralph Martin is former Suffolk County DA, then went into private practice for several years and is now General Counsel at Northeastern. Ralph has not indicated one peep of interest in running for anything but he would be a well known candidate, he is a moderate and he is also African American. I don't think that is going to happen.

However, let's not forget that Brown one in the first place because Martha was a horrible candidate and everyone assumed she would win. I worry that Markey believes he will coast to a win (the party will definitely not make assumptions but will Markey?).

Lynch would work hard to win. I believe Brown knows he cannot beat Lynch.

This will be interesting.

[Mass]

8. Markey will not and he is a true progressive.

As somebody with a preexisting condition and a woman, both Brown and Lynch are big no-no

[jcgoldie]

10. ?

"Markey is more of a female Martha Coakley (IMO)."

Is this a typo or some sort of slur against his manhood... or her femininity... or whatever? *scratches head*

[karynnj]

14. Not what I saw in how Markey interacted with people at Kerry's Faneuil Hall event Thursday

Markey came in and there he was shaking hands and smiling at all the people - many MA political people - happy to see him. He looked energized and excited by the people - and they seemed to be happy with him. (Lynch was there, but until JK pointed him out with the rest of the delegation, another DUer and I did not see him at all - much less engaging with the people there.

Incidentally, PPP showed that Markey was already close to Brown (3 pts lower) with far more than half the undecides saying they voted for Warren. Lynch did nowhere near as well.

[Cha]

20. Thanks for that on the site report, karynVT

Good to hear about Ed Markey!

I'm thinking Brown bowed out because he didn't think he could win. Otherwise, why not go for it?

This way he can get out without being labeled a two time loser and he can run for gov or bqhatevwr.

[karynnj]

21. I think bqhatevwr!

How does he regain a serious capable image?

I think you are right and that he had an internal poll showing the same.

[union_maid]

11. I think it would just look bad to lose again

Democrats always have a good shot in MA, no matter what some polls say now. Scott was an incumbent who lost his seat to start with and then if he were to lose again to whomever runs the stench of loser would be all over him. I think it would be a really risky and probably dumb move for him to run.

[applegrove]

12. Obama is so popular Scott Brown probably knows he has a good chance of losing.

[TroyD]

13. Did the PPP poll scare Brown off?

This week's poll showed him only 3 points ahead of Markey.

Perhaps Brown's own campaign did some polling and came to a similar result that showed he didn't have much of a lead?

[Shiraz]

15. Maybe, just maybe,

He can't stomach being a republican that the party has become.

[Sunlei]

17. It is republican money but there has to be a limit to how many billions they throw at losers.?

They are trying to create a Jeb Bush 2016 character now, create several more for the 2014 positions and that isn't cheap.

It's a shame (/snicker) republicans don't have any naturaly good, solid honest, selfmade Americans who care to run.

[Sunlei]

18. Scott Brown made his nest /w his past campaigns, no amount of re-branding will work.

How could any reasonable American forget what he let his campaign do to try to win an election? Scott was in charge of his campaigns.

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