'Help Us, Scottie Brown Kenobi, You're Our Only Hope,' – Republicans


Contradicting the Associated Press report this week that Scott Brown was “leaning strongly” toward a run in the special Senate election, the Boston Globe's Michael Levenson and Frank Phillips report that Brown may actually be dithering:

Washington Republicans have begun a “full court press’’ to persuade an increasingly reluctant Scott Brown to run in the special election to replace John F. Kerry, say two leading Massachusetts GOP figures.

The eleventh-hour effort, coordinated by the National Republican Senatorial Committee, comes as those familiar with Brown’s deliberations are becoming convinced that he will not run and instead will look for a job in the private sector.

As Princess Leia might say, “Help us, Scott Brown, you're our only hope.” Or as the Globe put it, “They are telling Brown he is the party’s best and probably only hope to win the June 25 election in a state that traditionally sends Democrats to Washington.” Salon's Steve Kornacki recently ran through the backup options the state Republican party has on hold should Brown take a pass, and indeed, their prospects don't look so great.

Yet this seems like a case where Scott Brown's interests might differ from those of the national party that's wooing him. Brown seems to understand what he's up against, reportedly telling several of the Republicans who are convincing him that he doesn't want to run two more Senate races in short order. Several pundits, including Kornacki, have written persuasively that Brown's smart move might be to hold off on a special election and save his energy and resources for a 2014 run, either for the permanent Senate seat or the governorship. But with all eyes on Massachusetts in an  otherwise dead period for national politics, Republicans, no doubt, don't want to look so impotent that they can't put up a candidate with any chance of making a race competitive. Scott Brown's their only hope, but this particular Senate race might not be his.