EndrTimes: S. Brown

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Sunday, January 24, 2010

Profile: Republican Senator Scott Brown

Page last updated at 13:34 GMT, Wednesday, 20 January 2010

Profile: Republican Senator Scott Brown

Scott Brown says his dedication to hard work grew out of a difficult childhood

Until his overwhelming victory over Democratic candidate Martha Coakley, few people outside Massachusetts had ever heard of the photogenic and energetic Republican, Scott Brown.

He captured a seat that has been a stronghold of the Democrats for more than 50 years - that of the late Senator Edward Kennedy.

US media have called him "Senator Beefcake" - a lawyer and former model who posed almost naked for Cosmopolitan magazine in the 1980s.

Mr Brown was born in 1959 and grew up in Wakefield, Massachusetts, where his father served as a councillor for the city of Newburyport.

He says his dedication to hard work and family grew out of a difficult childhood.

His parents divorced when he was about a year old and both have since remarried three times.

"My mom was on welfare for a period of time," he said in a recent debate.

"I really came from nothing and worked my way up."

Model looks

Mr Brown graduated from Wakefield High School in 1977 and then attended Tufts University, followed by law school in Boston.

A basketball player and athlete, he also dabbled in acting, appearing in TV commercials.

Using his photogenic looks, he also worked as a model. In 1982, while studying law, he posed in a centrefold - with a strategically placed crease - for Cosmopolitan, as the winner of the magazine's "America's Sexiest Man" competition.

He also enlisted in the National Guard and although never deployed, he has been on assignments to Paraguay and Kazakhstan.

He currently holds the rank of lieutenant colonel.

Mr Brown was awarded the Army Commendation Medal for service in home and security following the attacks of 9/11.

'Independent thinker'

His political career began in 1992.

He served three terms as a State Representative and won his current State Senate seat in 2004.
In September 2009 he announced his intention to run for the US Senate seat which became vacant following the death of Senator Kennedy, saying the state "needs an independent thinker".
While initially trailing in the polls, he soon closed the gap on his Democratic rival with his energetic campaign, criss-crossing the state and holding daily press events.

His victory is the first for the Republicans in Massachusetts since 1972.

Politically conservative, he says that his military experience gives him a wider perspective on national security issues.

He supported President Barack Obama's decision last November to send more troops to Afghanistan.

But he has been critical of the president's proposals to reform US healthcare, vowing to vote against the healthcare package.

In his victory speech, he said the reforms "would raise taxes, destroy jobs and increase debt".

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8470091.stm

Related:

ProfileScott Brown
Claire Bolderson on newly elected Republican senator for Massachusetts, Scott Brown.
BBC Radio 4, broadcast on 23 Jan 2010

Listen Now:

http://search.bbc.co.uk/click/p/1/ds/tvradio/t/Profile/id/17231391317694126439795383078138000/sp/24265c1e113b9833b88ad4b59464d652/-/http%253a%252f%252fwww%252ebbc%252eco%252euk%252fiplayer%252fepisode%252fb00q07gs%252fProfile%255fScott%255fBrown%252f

Who is "Scott Brown"?

Scott Brown
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_P._Brown)

Scott Philip Brown (born September 12, 1959) is the United States Senator-elect from Massachusetts. On January 19, 2010, he defeated Democrat Martha Coakley 52% to 47% in the special election to fill the remaining three years of the U.S. Senate term vacated by the death of Ted Kennedy. Brown became the first Republican elected to the U.S. Senate from Massachusetts since 1972.[2] While initially trailing Coakley in polling by a large margin, Brown closed the gap in the first weeks of January 2010 before going on to win the election.[3][4][5][6] Pending his imminent resignation from the Massachusetts Senate, he continues to represent the Norfolk, Bristol & Middlesex District;[7] Brown has held this office since 2004.[8] His state political experience consists of nearly three terms in the Massachusetts House of Representatives and three terms in the Massachusetts Senate.[9] Prior to entering the state legislature, he had public executive experience as a town selectman. He is a practicing attorney, concentrating in real estate law.[10][11][12] and serving as defense counsel in the Judge Advocate General's Corps of the military.

Brown is a graduate of Wakefield High School (1977), Tufts University (1981), and Boston College Law School (1985).

Early life and education

...

He graduated from Wakefield High School in 1977.[8] He received a Bachelors of Arts in History[17], cum laude from Tufts University in 1981 and a Juris Doctor from Boston College Law School in 1985. During his undergraduate career at Tufts, Brown was a member of the Kappa Chapter of Zeta Psi International Fraternity.[13][18]

Political positions

Brown has positioned himself as an independent conservative counterweight to Massachusetts' current all-Democratic, 12-member Congressional delegation.[1][14] He describes himself as fiscally conservative and socially conscious. He has said, "I'm going to be the only person down there who is going to be the independent voter and thinker...I've always been the underdog in one shape or form."[14]

Fiscal policy

Brown opposes a proposed multi-billion dollar tax on banks and prescribing bank executive compensation. Brown, discussing the proposal through a spokesperson, said that he is "opposed to higher taxes, especially in the midst of a severe recession". He also opposes it on the grounds that the tax would likely be passed onto consumers in the form of higher service and ATM fees.[48][49]

He supported the 2006 Massachusetts health care reform, which requires all residents to purchase health insurance. He opposes the bills approved in late 2009 by the Democratic-led House and Senate as fiscally unsound.[50]

...

Personal life

Family

Brown is married to WCVB-TV reporter Gail Huff; they have two daughters, Ayla Brown, an American Idol semi-finalist and star basketball player at Boston College, and Arianna Brown, a competitive equestrian and pre-medical student at Syracuse University. Besides their primary home in Wrentham, Massachusetts, the couple owns a home in Rye, New Hampshire, three condos in Boston, and a timeshare on the Caribbean island of Aruba.[14][59][60][61]

Religion

Brown and his family worship at New England Chapel in Franklin, a member of the Christian Reformed Church in North America which is a Protestant Christian denomination. They also have a relationship with an order of Cistercian[62] Roman Catholic nuns at Mount St. Mary's Abbey in Wrentham. The Brown family has raised over $5 million for the order, helping to install solar panels, a wind turbine and a candy manufacturing plant that the order operates. Sister Katie McNamara has said of the family, "[w]e pray for them every day".[14]

Modeling

In June 1982, Brown, then a 22-year-old law student at Boston College, won Cosmopolitan magazine's "America's Sexiest Man" contest. Brown was featured in the magazine's centerfold, posing nude but covering his genitalia with his left arm and hand.[1][63][64] In the accompanying interview, he referred to himself as "a bit of a patriot" and stated that he had political ambitions. He used his earnings from the shoot to pay for college.[1][63] Brown has also worked as an actor in his early career,[1] appearing in a variety of television commercials and university productions.[14]

...

References

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_P._Brown

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Coakley concedes

January 19, 2010
2010
Coakley concedes

The Boston Globe reports that Martha Coakley has called Scott Brown to concede, according to a Brown aide.

Two Democrats confirmed the concession to POLITICO.

Her concession marks the most dramatic political upset in a generation, one that will be plumbed for meaning and spun over the next few days.

Please let me know what you think it means in the comments section, as I figure out what I think it means.

Posted by Ben Smith 09:18 PM

Source:http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0110/Globe_Coakley_concedes.html

Polls Close in Competitive Massachusetts Senate Race

Updated January 19, 2010

FOXNews.com

Polls have closed in the Massachusetts special election, an unexpectedly competitive contest that could have significant implications for President Obama's agenda in Washington.

Democrat Martha Coakley, left, and Republican Scott Brown are in a tight race for Senate in Massachusetts. (AP/Reuters Photos)

Polls have closed in the Massachusetts special election, an unexpectedly competitive contest that could have significant implications for President Obama's agenda in Washington.

Republican Scott Brown's late-in-the-game surge in the state has commanded the attention of the Democratic Party establishment, which dispatched top officials over the past week to try to keep the seat formerly held by the late Sen. Ted Kennedy in Democratic hands. Democrat Martha Coakley, the state attorney general, was thought to be a shoo-in for the seat until Brown starting gaining rapidly in the polls.

Early returns were not available. But Rasmussen Reports released some data from its election night survey of 1,000 voters. The survey found Coakley had a slight edge, 47-to-41 percent, among those who decided how they would vote in the past few days. Rasmussen reported she had a "big advantage" among those who decided who to vote for more than a month ago.

Voter interest in the race for U.S. Senate seemed high throughout the day. With the state poised to play a pivotal role in shaping the balance of power in Washington, poll workers reported a steady stream of voters at the ballot box despite the snow.

Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin was predicting turnout could be as high as 50 percent.

The two candidates are far apart on the issues, but even in this heavily Democratic state Brown built an insurgent campaign that started resonating with voters at just the right time.

"This is going to be the most significant special election in modern American history if Scott Brown wins," said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics. He predicted a Brown win would buoy every other "long-shot" Republican candidate in the country and add fuel to the party's momentum going into the midterms this fall.

More immediately, a Brown win would pose big problems for Obama's agenda items, not the least of which is health care reform. Brown, should he win, would break the Democrats' 60-vote, filibuster-proof majority, sending Democrats into a scramble to pass the health care bill before he arrives.

Though Republicans have occasionally been a political force in state politics, Massachusetts voters have not sent a Republican to represent them in the U.S. Senate since 1972. Every member of the state delegation currently in Washington is a Democrat.

Democrats outnumber Republicans 3-to-1 in the state -- 37 percent of registered voters are Democrats, 12 percent are Republicans and 51 percent are unaffiliated. Obama won the state by 26 percentage points in the 2008 presidential election.

Brown's campaign marked an upset just by being as competitive as it was against Coakley's.

The campaigns have been inundated with help from outside the state. Obama and former President Bill Clinton both came to campaign rallies for Coakley, and Obama appeared in a television ad.

"Every vote matters, every voice matters," Obama said in the ad. "We need you on Tuesday."

Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., pitched in by having his campaign team make phone calls to get people out to the polls. According to one Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee staff member who stayed behind in Washington, it was all hands on deck in the Bay State.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee in Washington also has "emptied out the building" of staff to send nearly everyone to Massachusetts to help Brown get out the vote. The NRSC reportedly quietly shifted $500,000 to help Brown's campaign in the last two weeks.

Arizona Sen. John McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential candidate, contacted his extensive and valuable fundraising lists on behalf of Brown last week. Independent tea party organizations are also offering phone banking support to Brown.

"I came up to help out because of the excitement, we have so many people turning up at our volunteer phone banks we have to turn them away," said one such Republican operative, "Stuff like this is why I got into politics."

Lt. Gov. Tim Murray noted that the race closed its 15-point gap in recent weeks because of the increased attention but Republicans have typically run close races in the state despite a 3-1 Democratic to Republican voter registration gap.

"You can't take any election for granted in Massachusetts, probably, or anywhere around the country these days," he said.

Indeed, the swift rise of Brown, a relatively low-profile Republican state senator, in his race against the state attorney general has spooked Democrats who had considered the seat one of their most reliable.

Kennedy, who died in August, held the post for 47 years.

Brown has tried to turn Democrats' expectation of an easy win to his advantage, proclaiming, "It's not the Kennedy seat, it's the people's seat."

A Suffolk University survey taken Saturday and Sunday showed Brown with double-digit leads in three communities the poll identified as bellwethers: Gardner, Fitchburg and Peabody. But internal statewide polls for both sides showed a dead heat.

A third candidate, Joseph L. Kennedy, a Libertarian running as an independent, said he's been bombarded with e-mails from Brown supporters urging him to drop out and endorse the Republican. Kennedy, who was polling in the single digits and is no relation to the late senator, said he's staying in.

Fox News' Trish Turner, Molly Line and Jake Gibson contributed to this report.

Source:http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/01/19/polls-close-competitive-massachusetts-senate-race/

Saturday, February 14, 2009

White House provides plane to senator for key stimulus vote

updated 7:29 p.m. EST, Fri February 13, 2009

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The White House has provided the use of a government airplane to a key Democratic senator in order to ensure the availability of what may prove to be the deciding 60th vote in favor of the $787 billion economic stimulus package.

Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, has returned to his home state to attend a wake for his 88-year-old mother, who died February 2 from complications from leukemia. At the end of the wake, Brown will be flown from Mansfield, Ohio, to Andrews Air Force Base.

After he casts his vote, he will return to Ohio for his mother's funeral early Saturday.

The plane is being provided by the White House, Brown's office said, because the vote is considered "official business," and there are no commercial flights available that would allow him to cast the vote and return to Ohio for his mother's funeral Saturday morning.

A White House official refused to provide a cost estimate for the military plane, but acknowledged "it will be a higher cost than if he were flying commercial."

The official said it is a "small government plane."

"Taking immediate action to save or create 3.5 million jobs and get America's economy moving again is a top priority for Ohio and the nation," said the White House official. "Given that no commercial flights were available that would allow Sen. Brown to make the vote and to attend services memorializing his mother, the administration provided government transportation to ensure that he could do so."

While the final Senate vote on the stimulus plan began at 5:30 p.m. ET, senators are expected to be allowed to vote until after 10:30 p.m., giving Brown enough time to return to the Capitol.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/13/brown.stimulus.vote.flight/