Former Sen. Scott Brown, having passed up a campaign to take over John Kerry’s Senate seat in Massachusetts, has been publicly kicking around the possibility of running in 2014 in New Hampshire, a more conservative state with which he has many personal ties, and where is he is well known thanks to Boston media. But now a poll conducted by PPP for the League of Conservation Voters may have poured icy cold water on that idea: Jeanne Shaheen leads Brown in a trial heat by a comfortable 52-41 margin. Worse yet, Brown personal favorable/unfavorable ratings are net negative, and 54% of respondents say they don’t want him to run. Add in the likelihood that Brown would face a vicious primary fight from the Granite State GOP’s notoriously hard-core conservative wing, and a Brown campaign in NH doesn’t look like the best career move.
But I do wonder if Brown has any connections to Montana–you know, maybe he’s modeled western wear or fly-fishing gear or something. If the NRSC cannot recruit Steve Daines or Mark Racicot for the now-open Baucus seat, they may be looking for some fresh talent. The same is true a bit further south in Colorado, where the GOP is in disarray and Mark Udall could skate in 2014. Or perhaps he could parachute naked, so to speak, into North Carolina politics, where Kay Hagan is up next year and has a surprisingly solid lead over all named opponents.
As a Fox News commentator, Brown’s a man about town everywhere, so there’s no reason he should limit that packed carpetbag to New Hampshire.
