Republican Scott Brown is now officially jumping into the U.S. Senate race in New Hampshire against Democratic incumbent Jeanne Shaheen, who voted for ObamaCare and may prove vulnerable.
Polling in January had them only three points apart. While Shaheen’s alleged lead reportedly widened to six in February, there are good reasons to all but write those off. First, both were done by traditionally Democrat-leaning Public Policy Polling (PPP), plus, Democrats have already started attacking Brown even before he has officially declared.
In essence, Brown hasn’t been on offense, let alone firing back.
“I’m going to stop complaining and get involved again,” Brown told the Northeast Republican Leadership Conference in Nashua.
Brown, who lost his 2012 re-election Senate bid in Massachusetts, previewed some of his campaign message in a speech laced with criticism of President Obama’s health care law. Shaheen, who is seeking her second term, voted for the Affordable Care Act in 2010.
Now that Brown is getting serious, it’s very likely that new numbers will eventually show a tight race given both Democrat Obama and ObamaCare’s weak approval numbers. While there is other local polling showing Shaheen with a bigger edge, there is no local head-to-head polling given a brpoader GOP field.
More via USAToday.
The exploratory committee allows Brown to raise money for the campaign, but his rivals for the GOP nomination and Democrats are already treating him as though he’s formally in the Senate race. With Brown as a candidate, Republicans would expand the field in the 2014 midterm elections as they try to win the six seats they need for majority control of the Senate.
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