Dems give Brown warm reception while seeking his crucial swing vote

Democrats embraced Sen.-elect Scott Brown (R-Mass.), hoping he may prove to be a crucial swing vote on big issues.

Brown, who expects to be sworn in next week, said he’s received a warm welcome from senators across the aisle, including Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).
 
{mosads}Reid spoke by phone with Brown on Wednesday evening and Democratic Sens. John Kerry (Mass.) and Paul Kirk (Mass.) invited him to their offices on Thursday morning.
 
“We had a nice talk, we cracked a few jokes,” Brown said of his chat with Reid.

“The reception I’ve received from the folks on the other side, the Democrats on the other side and the delegation especially has been extremely gratifying,” Brown added. “I really appreciate their efforts to reach out.”
 
In recent years, Senate Democrats have focused their across-the-aisle entreaties on two other New England Republicans, Maine Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe.
 
Brown said he would be open to working with Democrats on various issues but he panned the pending healthcare reform bill as a bad deal for Massachusetts.
 
“The bill that was being pushed in Washington was not good for Massachusetts,” he said. “It may have been good for other states but we already had everything and a lot of what was being proposed.”
 
Brown noted that about 98 percent of people in Massachusetts have health insurance coverage because of reform the state enacted in 2006.
 
Brown said his campaign was bolstered by voter frustration over proposed cuts in Medicare spending and potential cuts to veterans’ healthcare spending because of the bill in Congress. He said voters were also angry about a deal struck by Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) that would have the federal government cover Medicaid spending increases for Nebraska — which critics have called the “Cornhusker kickback.”
 
Republicans are also talking about Brown as a potential candidate for president and he paid his first visit on Capitol Hill to Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), the 2008 GOP presidential nominee.
 
McCain was one of the first Republicans in Washington to back Brown’s Senate bid.
 
Brown was also scheduled to meet with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Reid later in the day.

(Photo by Greg Nash)