Joe Mathieu Talks To The Candidates: Scott Brown
BOSTON (CBS) – Polls show a tight race in the New Hampshire U.S. Senate race between incumbent Democrat Jeanne Shaheen and former Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown.
Although Shaheen has attempted to remind residents that Brown is from Massachusetts in ads that he calls "smear attacks," Brown told WBZ NewsRadio 1030 about his connection to New Hampshire, after saying he was honored to have represented the people of Massachusetts.
"I'm the son of the American Revolution out of Newington. My family's roots go back nine generations to the founding families of New Hampshire," Brown said.
He also appreciates the culture and mindset of the people of New Hampshire, "The live free or die mentality, where people want the ability to carry and bear arms. They want the ability to have little to no government appearance in their lives. It's real, it's personal, it's visceral."
The race between Brown and Shaheen has been inundated with commercials masking what Brown sees are the important issues. He has focused on immigration, border security, education, foreign policy and veterans; issues that he feels are on people's minds.
Brown claims Shaheen's ads against him are utilized as a distraction from her "record of siding with Obama 99 percent of the time, being the deciding vote for Obamacare, not securing our borders, and being soft when it comes to dealing with the issues of facing our nation and our country."
From a national standpoint, the people of New Hampshire want to ensure border security, so that potential diseases and terrorists cannot infiltrate the country. Brown sees these issues as "simple" to solve.
Regarding Ebola, "There needs to be a very strict visa process and they need to be in quarantine, it's pretty simple," Brown said. He also expressed concern about the soldiers President Obama has sent into Africa, along with their safety and whether there's a plan for protecting them.
Looking at ISIS, Brown credits the problem to the president's failure to "listen to his advisers to keep a transition force" in Iraq.
"Our greatest deterrent is ground forces, but President Obama took that off the table. We need to have every tool in the toolbox and thepPresident's incoherent policy sends a terrible message to our allies and a great message to our foes; our allies don't trust us," Brown told WBZ.
Having spoken with veterans and experienced "soldiers and crying as they told me how upset they are that they left life and limb, buddies and sometimes themselves on the battlefield," Brown tells these troops that he "will be somebody who puts their interests first."
As for Obamacare, Brown does not think it's the best option for New Hampshire.
"Do we want health care to be the 'one size fits all approach'?" Brown asked. "We can do it better."
Noting other states are in agreement, Brown argued they want the ability to take care of their own citizens.
"To think that Obamacare is the only answer is just such a false premise. They want you to believe that it's the only answer but it's not," Brown said.
"We have the opportunity to put into place something that works for our state and I want to be part of that solution."
The Brown interview is part of a series of interviews Joe Mathieu and WBZ NewsRadio 1030 will be conducting with the candidates running for office in November.
Listen to Joe's interview here:
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