Sen. Brown Goes to Washington

Fresh off pulling off a major upset in Massachusetts, newly elected U.S. Sen. Scott Brown on Thursday made his way to the nation’s capital, where he reflected to the press about what he believes won voters to his side, what he likes about President Barack Obama and how close his ties are (or aren’t) to the right-wing, tea-party movement. –KA

The Washington Post:

“People were frustrated with the lack of transparency and the health-care bill,” he said by an airport Dunkin’ Donuts stand. “A lot of it was done behind closed doors,” he said. But he also acknowledged that his personal story of serially divorced parents and instance of adolescent shoplifting gave him something like Obama’s against-all-odds appeal. He predicted that he and Obama “are going to find common ground.”

He even said that he offered the president advice in a telephone conversation the two had after he won office. “I said one thing I’ve always liked about you is your sense of humor, Mr. President, so don’t lose it,” Brown said.

Brown said his model for governing would be McCain, who would also be the first appointment in a packed schedule of meetings that morning. “I have great respect for Senator McCain,” he said of the Arizona senator, who was one of the first establishment players to support his seemingly quixotic bid against Attorney General Martha Coakley. “I’ve known him for a while, long before this, and you know he is a war hero and kind of a maverick independent thinker. While I want to be a Scott Brown Republican, I want to rely on everybody on both sides of the aisle,” he added, “I’ve told my leadership already that I’m not a rubber stamp for anybody.”

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