Did Brown misspeak on state?

Did New Hampshire Senate candidate Scott Brown fumble what state he’s running for in a Tuesday radio interview?

Democrats say the former Massachusetts senator misspoke and suggested his opponent, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D), represented the Massachusetts delegation — not New Hampshire’s. They’re using his comments to hammer Brown as a carpetbagger who’s out of touch with New Hampshire.

{mosads}But Brown’s campaign argues Democrats are misquoting Brown. It said Brown was being interviewed by the Boston Herald radio station and simply referred to the Massachusetts delegation.

The host of the radio program sponsored by the Boston Herald, which has endorsed Brown, also argues Democrats are misquoting him.

A muddled tape of the interview makes it difficult to clearly pick out Brown’s words, and he does stumble over a reference to the Massachusetts delegation. 

Democrats say that during a discussion about the border crisis, Brown characterized his opposition to “amnesty” and the DREAM Act as “a big difference between Sen. Shaheen and me and many other people in the Massachusetts delegation, and Sen. Shaheen, in particular, the president.”

Brown’s camp, backed by the radio host, says Brown declared that his position on amnesty was “a big difference between Senator Shaheen and me and other people. Your Massachusetts delegation. And Senator Shaheen, in particular, the president.”

Brown’s campaign said Brown’s use of the word “your” is important because he used the word to distance himself from his former state. Boston Herald reporters and hosts of the show Hillary Chabot and Jaclyn Cashman both issued tweets backing up Brown.

“Confusion over our @heraldradio intvw with @SenScottBrown – he’s ref “you mass delegation” while talking to bay state radio hosts,” Chabot tweeted.

It wouldn’t be the first time Brown stumbled over his location. In December, before launching his Senate bid, Brown told a local Granite State GOP group that New Hampshire Republicans had said they were “thankful” he was there raising awareness of “the issues that are affecting not only people here in Massachusetts — I mean New Hampshire.” 

On Wednesday, New Hampshire Democratic Party Communications Director Julie McClain called Brown’s latest comments “an insult to New Hampshire families.”

“Brown used to brag about growing up in Massachusetts, raising his family in Massachusetts and said he would die in Massachusetts. Now he’s moved to New Hampshire and says he cares about us, but really he’s just using us to get himself a Senate seat,” she added. “How can New Hampshire families possibly trust a candidate who doesn’t see the difference between Massachusetts and New Hampshire?”

— This story was posted at 11:23 a.m. and updated at 1:50 p.m.