Keller @ Large: Residency Attack Ads Don't Work
BOSTON (CBS) - If Scott Brown becomes the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in New Hampshire, there may be a range of reasons why voters will decide they won't want him.
The New Hampshire Democratic Party will see to it they have plenty of options to pick from.
But I seriously doubt those will include the latest salvo from the NHDP, a web video showing clips of Brown, during his time as a U.S. Senator from Massachusetts, asserting that he is "from Massachusetts" and eager to "represent Massachusetts." These shocking statements are juxtaposed with a clip of Brown saying "I care about New Hampshire," a vivid demonstration, they apparently think, of his shameless hypocrisy and unfitness for high office.
If Brown's enemies really believe this, instead of merely expressing their contempt for the intelligence of New Hampshire voters, then they need help.
After all, their candidate, Jeanne Shaheen, was born in Missouri and didn't move to New Hampshire until 1973.
Brown, at least, was born in Kittery, Maine, a whoopee pie throw from the New Hampshire border.
Of course, Brown pulled the same stunt in his race against Elizabeth Warren, an Oklahoma native who only moved to Massachusetts in 1992.
And everyone who ever runs against Ed Markey makes sport of the fact that he's just kept a mail drop here for decades.
It never works, nor should it.
Candidates are only required by law to "inhabit" the state that elected them, and there has never been a correlation between length of residency and quality of representation.
So spare us the silly attack ads.
They tell us more about the attackers than the attacked.
Listen to Jon's commentary: