Scott Brown Likes Being a Senator, Decides to Vote for Reform
Senator Scott Brown, the first Republican to be elected to the Senate in Massachusetts since 1972, has decided to vote yes on the financial reform bill.
"It is a better bill than it was when this whole process started," Brown said, pointing to recent changes made to the bill that apparently make it more palatable to his tastes. He indicated last week that he would likely vote in favor of the reform.
A tweet by David Corn, Washington editor for Mother Jones, got me thinking about the unique situation Scott Brown is in:
It's true, he clearly likes his job. He's realizing that it's kind of nice being a Senator, and that if he wants to keep this job he's going to have to act like a Massachusetts Republican, not necessarily like his conservative colleagues.
Although Brown appears to be holding up well politically, according to a FiveThirtyEight post from last month, there's little doubt that Massachusetts is still very much a blue state, and they won't tolerate as much of the "party of no," social conservative, always-on-opposition voting behavior that the redder states tend to encourage. This is a smart move for him, and it shows that he knows what he's doing. As long as he keeps it moderate and plays nice with Republicans and Democrats alike, he may be safe in his seat for some time to come.
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