Mitt Romney back in a familiar spot
(CNN) - When former Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts began to seriously think about launching a campaign for the Senate in neighboring New Hampshire, "one of the first calls he made to talk about running was to Gov. Mitt Romney," a close adviser to Brown tells CNN.
Wednesday, the two men talked again, as the former Massachusetts governor and 2012 GOP presidential nominee officially endorsed Brown, the frontrunner among the Republican candidates hoping to challenge Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire this November.
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"New Hampshire knows Mitt Romney very very well, and not just because he won the presidential primary here. We know him as the upright and capable man who we wish were President right now. And as you remember in 2012 he came right here and fought the good fight. Well guess what, he’s here today to help us win in 2014, Brown told the crowd.
Romney's made a bunch of endorsements in Republican primary battles this year, but this one – which was first reported last week by CNN – hits closer to home in many ways.
"Gov. Romney and Scott Brown have been friends for years, going back to their days on Beacon Hill in Massachusetts," Ryan Williams, a New Hampshire GOP consultant who worked for Romney and now advises Brown, told CNN. "Obviously Scott is very proud to have Romney's support in New Hampshire, a place where Gov. Romney is very well liked and has a lot of friends and supporters."
Romney's very well known in New Hampshire. Besides serving for four years as governor of neighboring Massachusetts last decade, he owns a vacation home in the Granite State, and has often appeared at GOP events in across the state. Romney easily won the state's 2012 Republican presidential primary, but lost New Hampshire by six percentage points to President Barack Obama in the general election.
"Romney is popular in this state, particularly among Republicans. He's well thought of even though he's not a New Hampshire resident," Neil Levesque, the executive director of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics, told CNN.
Since his defeat in the 2012 presidential election, Romney has taken on the role of Republican Party elder statesman, in hopes of helping shape the future of the party. And while he has made endorsements in a number of GOP primary battles this cycle, he's only appeared on the campaign with candidates a couple of times. Most recently, he traveled to Iowa to campaign with state Sen. Joni Ernst, who a month ago went on to win the Hawkeye State's Republican Senate nomination.
Poll: Would America be better off if Romney had won?
Wednesday's event took place at Doug and Stella Scamman's Bittersweet Farm in Stratham, near the New Hampshire seacoast. That's the same spot where, just over three years ago, Romney formally announced his 2012 bid for the White House. Discussing the setting, Romney said it was "kind of like deja vu all over again."
"I'm proud to be here today to endorse someone I know well," said Romney, calling Brown "an independent voice, an independent thinker."
"I know that the President is not on the ballot this November but the people of New Hampshire have a chance to vote on what they think about the President’s agenda and they’ll do that by saying what they will about the President’s number one supporter Jeanne Shaheen," Romney added.
The endorsement came one day after news that Brown's campaign raised more than $2 million the past three months - his first full quarter as Senate candidate. Romney helped Brown top the $2 million mark by hosting a fundraiser in Chicago this past weekend for the Senate candidate.
"Scott Brown's strong fundraising quarter is another indication that he's going to be a formidable candidate this fall," a senior Brown aide told CNN.
Shaheen, who raised $1.5 million during the first three months of the year and had $4.4 million in the bank, has not yet revealed her second quarter fundraising figures. She got an assist on Monday from Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, as the progressive rock star hosted a fundraiser for Shaheen in Boston.
In advance of the Romney-Brown event, Democratic party officials were happy to tie the two men together.
"Really, when you get down to it Scott Brown and Mitt Romney are a couple of failed Massachusetts politicians who own summer homes in New Hampshire and now want to stand for Wall Street and big oil at the expense of the middle class in New Hampshire," Massachusetts Democratic Party Chairman Thomas McGee told reporters on a conference Tuesday.
"Now Scott Brown is bringing in his Massachusetts buddy Mitt Romney, Mitt Romney, to vouch for him. Well Scott, we've got news for you, Mitt Romney has no credibility in New Hampshire either," added New Hampshire Democratic Party Chairman Ray Buckley. "It's actually insulting that Scott Brown is shipping in another failed Massachusetts politician to tell Granite Staters what they need."
From Massachusetts to New Hampshire
Brown, then a little-known state senator, in Massachusetts, scored an upset victory in a special election in January 2010 to serve the final three years of the term of the late Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy, who had died the previous summer. Brown lost his bid 2012 re-election bid for a full six-year term to Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren.
During the 2012 campaign, as Brown tried to fend off the challenge from Warren in blue state Massachusetts, appeared to distance himself a bit from Romney, who Brown considered a political mentor during their days together in Bay State politics.
"In 2012, each candidate had to run their own race, and focus on two very different campaigns," Ryan told CNN. "Each candidate was focused on running the type of race they needed to run to win."
Last year, Brown passed on running in a special election in Massachusetts to fill the term of John Kerry, who left the Senate to become secretary of state. And at the time, Brown also announced that he wouldn't make a 2014 bid for an open governor's seat in the Bay State.
Brown made a number of speaking appearances at GOP events in New Hampshire last year. Last fall, in another hint about a possible run, he dropped the 'MA' from his Twitter handle. Since late year, when he began considering a Senate bid in New Hampshire, Brown began been highlighting his ties to the Granite State, to push back against Democrats' characterizations of him as a "carpetbagger" from Massachusetts.
At the end of the year, he sold his home in the Bay State and moved his residency north to New Hampshire, where he owed a vacation home and where he spent much of his childhood. In April he formally launched his Senate bid in New Hampshire
Brown joins two other Republicans who are running for their party's Senate nomination in New Hampshire: former U.S. Sen. Bob Smith and former state Sen. Jim Rubens. Conservative activist Karen Testerman dropped out of the race earlier this month and endorsed Smith. The winner of the September 9 primary will face off against Shaheen, who also served for six years as the state's governor.
Two polls released last month indicated Brown trailing Shaheen by 10 and 12 percentage points. One of the two surveys also suggested that Brown was the clear frontrunner for the GOP nomination.
If Brown ends up winning the GOP's September primary and runs a competitive race against Shaheen, it would expand the map for Republicans. Democrats hold a 55-45 majority in the Senate (53 Democrats and two independents who caucus with the party), but are defending 21 of the 36 seats up in November, with half of those Democratic-held seats in red or purple states, like New Hampshire.
Will sharing the stage with Romney give Brown a boost?
"I think this is going to be a very big event that a lot of people are going to be talking about. If you can get a bump going into the Fourth of July holiday, it's to your benefit," Levesque told CNN.
Complete Coverage: 2014 Midterm Elections
Tony D
Rudy NYC
yolanda
@REal Tom, please expound on the good works of Sen. Clinton. I am not being sarcastic, but rather curious as to what you view as her accomplishments. Thanks.
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Don't you think it's a little early for that? You could at least wait until she announces a candidacy.
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We'll take that as a no, you can't list her accomplishments. Since the question has been asked so much about Hillary in the past, you should have your stock list of rubbish ready to repost. For instance...
1. Worked for world peace.
2. Visited the entire planet making the world a friendly place.
3. Got 4 people killed.
ooops! how did that get in there?!
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What? You again? Didn't you folks embarrass yourselves enough yesterday by calling me a liar and delusional for making a statement that agreed with what you yourself had posted? I had agreed with you, yet you attacked me with unmitigated vigor. Apparently everyone could see the hypocrisy in your actions but you folks.
Donna
Rudy NYC
Does Romney file his taxes as a resident of New Hampshire? If Romney has a vacation home in Europe, let's say the French Riviera somewhere, would your argument make Romney a foreigner, one who would be ineligible to be POTUS?
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What difference DOES it make?!! (sorry, just had to channel Hillary there)
Many, many people have residences in two states, one for the summer, one for the winter (retirees especially). They pay taxes in these multiple states no matter where they file the return. They spent time there and know the people and the issues. Any other red herring nonsense points you need shot down?
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You're changing the subject. Don't you recognize that there is a difference between "paying taxes in multiple states" and filing state income taxes? I asked you about filing income taxes, not paying property or sales taxes in multiple states.
Rudy NYC
You're changing the subject. Don't you recognize that there is a difference between "paying taxes in multiple states" and filing state income taxes? I asked you about filing income taxes, not paying property or sales taxes in multiple states.
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I am not changing the subject at all. Did you not read my last statement? Your question and point of what state somebody files a tax return is totally meaningless in this day and age. This is 2014, not 1814. It has nothing to do with how well that person knows the state and the issues. So again, I say... Any other red herring nonsense points you need shot down?
Rudy NYC
Does Romney file his taxes as a resident of New Hampshire? If Romney has a vacation home in Europe, let's say the French Riviera somewhere, would your argument make Romney a foreigner, one who would be ineligible to be POTUS?
-–
so where did hillary clinton file her state tax returns before she ran for senator in ny, a state she had never lived in before? did you also then ridicule her as being an outsider? didn't think so.
Romney is the elder statesman for the republican party? A guy lost everytime he ran for president. Wouldn't that be the job of George W Bush? Oh yeah sorry about that. Well I guess Mitt is a good choice for elder statesman for the republican party.
Funny when idiots think their clever, voting gop without being rich pretty much rules clever out! Continue.
@Donna "What difference DOES it make?!! "
------------
(warning – brain cells required)
I will correct this lie as often as I see it: Ms.Clinton said the "what difference" quote in response to hounding in the hearings over the motivation of the attackers. She was making a point that it was more important that four Americans died and future prevention than what was in the minds of the attackers. She was placing the deaths as top priority as opposed to what her Inquisitors were finding important. The transcripts are easy to find online.
who really cares next
@kool aid man
"Funny when idiots think their clever, voting gop without being rich pretty much rules clever out! Continue."
Co-sign.
The day will come when it hits them in the face like 12 guage blast (sorry, just channelling cheney there for minute hahaha snort, snort hahahahaha) and they find themselves at the mercy of their rich masters.
No rights, no recourse, no brains....
Silence DoGood
@Donna "What difference DOES it make?!! "
----
(warning – brain cells required)
I will correct this lie as often as I see it: Ms.Clinton said the "what difference" quote in response to hounding in the hearings over the motivation of the attackers.
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Here let me post it for you:
Clinton: With all due respect, the fact is we had four dead Americans. Was it because of a protest or was it because of guys out for a walk one night who decided that they'd they go kill some Americans? What difference at this point does it make?
First, Hillary Clinton made this statement LOOONG after it was well known fact the attack was conducted by an AQ affiliate in the region.
Second, her use of two examples she KNEW FOR A FACT were wrong and misleading, was itself wrong and misleading.
Hillary Clinton simply has a major problem with telling the truth, especially if it may damage her politically. She is another Obama, but on steroids. She lied to the faces of the families of the people that died. She is just a born liar, much like Obama.
Rudy NYC
Tony D
Rudy NYC
yolanda
@REal Tom, please expound on the good works of Sen. Clinton. I am not being sarcastic, but rather curious as to what you view as her accomplishments. Thanks.
–
Don't you think it's a little early for that? You could at least wait until she announces a candidacy.
–
We'll take that as a no, you can't list her accomplishments. Since the question has been asked so much about Hillary in the past, you should have your stock list of rubbish ready to repost. For instance...
1. Worked for world peace.
2. Visited the entire planet making the world a friendly place.
3. Got 4 people killed.
ooops! how did that get in there?!
---
What? You again? Didn't you folks embarrass yourselves enough yesterday by calling me a liar and delusional for making a statement that agreed with what you yourself had posted? I had agreed with you, yet you attacked me with unmitigated vigor. Apparently everyone could see the hypocrisy in your actions but you folks.
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That's funny... you twisted yourself into knots trying to cover one statement with another and twisting other's words and comments and you come back to take a bow? No, Rudy... you're not a liar. You're not delusional. You're an artist... of the bs variety, pure and simple.
I really do not understand how the poor whites think that Romney or Brown for that matter cares about them. The GOP/TP Klan is definitely out in LALA Land. They Praise Romney who stole retirement money from the middle-class to put in his Swiss bank accounts. I guess Queen Anne wants to cry one more time if he runs and lose the Presidency again. I still look at the vidoe of her red eyes on election night and crack up laughing because the good old GOP hoodwinked them into thinking that he had a chance at becoming President. LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh honestly Rudy, you are a legend in your own mind! You were tangled in a web of your lies so badly yesterday, I am surprised you were able to cut yourself free.
Delusion runs deep with Democrats these days, especially as Obama tops the polls as the worse President since WWII. I guess delusion is almost a requirement to be a Democrat these days. Don't leave home without it Dems!!
just asking – " did you also then ridicule her as being an outsider?"
I definitely ridicule Hillary as an outsider. I also ridicule New Yorkers (sorry, Rudy 🙂 ) for electing her. That is almost as bad as McCain bringing Palin to center stage.
They made up for it by electing Kirsten Gillibrand. I'd vote for Sen. Gillibrand over Hillary any day, even for Prez.
Ol' Yeller
and they find themselves at the mercy of their rich masters.
No rights, no recourse, no brains....
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And yet you advocate for the very same thing... government masters. Are you saying somehow the big government master of our lives is better? Not as we look through history!
LOL.
A carpetbagger being endorsed by a twit wearing magic underwear that even McCain though was not worthy and picked the screecher from AK over him.
He's run for president how many times? Three? LOSER!
"and they find themselves at the mercy of their rich masters."
Corporate ownership is right around the corner, O' Yeller. It's unbelievable how many Republicans haven't yet caught on to what is happening all around them as they rant and rail their poltical idioms like the good little stooges conservative media has turned them into.
richard in houston – " Romney is the elder statesman for the republican party? "
Well, geez, richard, what else have they got?? Bush? Cheney? Old Bush?? McCain??
I mean, if you gotta have an 'elder statesman', you know, they COULD do worse.
It's like picking corn in Texas, there ain't much there.
Kool-Aid Man....What flavor are you big-gulping?
Let me help Tommy, we as workers aren't on the government dole, but a large of gop voters are, nine of ten nanny states are red, those will be the ones affected first, and most. Its not government he's saying will be your master, even they will be helpless, the rich set the rules for them, they just follow orders, and cash their checks, I get the feeling your not in the 1%, your the very reason you'd life won't get better, enjoy
You rwnj kill me, 95% of all wealth went to the top 1%, and the remaining 5% isn't exactly evenly distributed. So, crying foul on raising their taxes, or even better eliminate their loopholes, expert economists all agree, but again, I'm sure you and your rich gop politicians know better, just too funny! And were drinking the koolaid huh, just because your not smart enough to know trickle down economics don't work, feel free to continue to call experts the idiots in a subject they've spent decades working on, your really something alright.
Fair is Fair posted:
What? You again? Didn't you folks embarrass yourselves enough yesterday by calling me a liar and delusional for making a statement that agreed with what you yourself had posted? I had agreed with you, yet you attacked me with unmitigated vigor. Apparently everyone could see the hypocrisy in your actions but you folks.
--
That's funny... you twisted yourself into knots trying to cover one statement with another and twisting other's words and comments and you come back to take a bow? No, Rudy... you're not a liar. You're not delusional. You're an artist... of the bs variety, pure and simple.
=====================================================
I assign the reason for this swing and a miss of a remark on the fact that you came in to the conversation pretty late. Like I said, I had agreed with one of you conservatives, and repeated what was said. It was something about the House being responsible for the annual deficits.
I repeated that erroneous conclusion back to its' originator. That's when it seemed like every right winger on these boards jumped in for piece of the action, for which I has happy to oblige. Despite my warnings that I was agreeing with you folks, you still insisted on calling me names anyway. Anyone who wasn't seeing red could see just how wrong you were. You folks put on quite the amusing show. I had agreed with you, and you chewed me out for it.
Mitt is a wolf in sheeps clothing, how else can you describe his money making schemes, they didn' t offer any goods or services for money, just raped and pilaged workers pensions , sucked the bones out of a companies carcass and left the company for dead, GOOD MORMON.
Rudy NYC
I assign the reason for this swing and a miss of a remark on the fact that you came in to the conversation pretty late.
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Uh huh... and I assign your erratic posting yesterday to hitting the sauce early.
Tony D
Oh honestly Rudy, you are a legend in your own mind! You were tangled in a web of your lies so badly yesterday, I am surprised you were able to cut yourself free.
Delusion runs deep with Democrats these days, especially as Obama tops the polls as the worse President since WWII. I guess delusion is almost a requirement to be a Democrat these days. Don't leave home without it Dems!!
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What lie did I tell, pray tell? You mean this one?
"Got that lying machine on overdrive this morning! Every person that graduated 7th grade knows it is Congress that determines the spending, not who is in the White House. The
facts don't lie, you do, but that is nothing new in here.
==============================================================================
Really? If that's the way you want to call it, then the Tea Party Houses [read Republicans] have been the biggest spending Houses in U.S. history.
Trumpets, please. TAA-DAA."
Yeah, that was a great one. Wasn't it? I put your measure to the test, and it failed your purity test. That was fun, man.