Keller @ Large: Early Thoughts On Brown-Warren Race Now That It's Official
BOSTON (CBS) - After she eliminated her last potential primary challenger this weekend at the Democratic convention, it's now official - Elizabeth Warren will be the alternative to incumbent Senator Scott Brown when we go to the polls in November.
Listen to Jon's commentary:
Podcast
And hype aside, there's no doubt this is an important election. In the short term, this seat could once again be the deciding vote in a divided Senate; for the long term, the winner will likely be representing us for many years to come.
For a state that relies so heavily on federal funding for our crucial health care, higher ed, and military research sectors, that's no small matter.
So what do we know at this point about the choice we face?
For starters, let's throw out the garbage. Elizabeth Warren is a distinguished scholar of economic and legal issues important to our well-being, not an untrustworthy loon, or, as several irresponsible voices insisted on the radio last week, a "sociopath." And Scott Brown is a hard-working, independent-minded legislator with deep local roots, not the dim-witted tool of the rich his knee-jerk partisan enemies claim.
We know more about how Brown would act in the Senate because we've watched him do it for the last 28 months.
For the most part, he appears to be well within the mold of past Massachusetts Republicans like Bill Weld and Paul Cellucci, fiscally conservative but eager to lobby for our share of the pie, socially moderate when he backs repeal of the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" rule but lower-case conservative when backing Catholic institutions against a contraception-coverage mandate.
We need to know more about what sort of senator Warren might be, but we do know of her commitment to activist government regulation of the financial sector, higher corporate taxes, and the union agenda.
Over the coming months I'll do my best to keep track of the substantive differences between Brown and Warren on the issues that matter, and I'm sure there will be plenty.
Look at it this way – this is one election where you won't be able to say it doesn't matter which one wins.
You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. and 12:25 p.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.
