Scott Brown’s northern exposure

Conservatives may be cheering on former Massachusetts senator Scott Brown’s likely New Hampshire US Senate run next year. But the inevitability of Brown is getting a little old for our New Hampshire brethren.  The

The Nashua Telegraph likes the idea of a Senator Brown from New Hampshire, but cautions that he needs speed up whatever announcement he plans to make lest the “fatigue of indecision” take seize the good people of the Granite State.

How carpetbagging will play in Live Free or Die land is anyone’s guess. He’s told the town clerk in Rye that he plans to register to vote in the seacoast town “soon.”

Brown should not mistake New Hampshire for New York, which has a record of embracing outsiders like Robert Kennedy and Hillary Clinton. The Telegraph notes that former Massachusetts governor Endicott Peabody took on Sen. Warren Rudman in 1986. (But do you remember a Sen. Peabody of New Hampshire? Thought not.)

Peabody, who moved to Hollis, was a viable option because the New Hampshire Democratic Party at the time was in sad straits, much like the Granite State GOP today, the Telegraph points out. The GOP bench for statewide office is not very deep.

Former New Hampshire senator Bob Smith, who is moving back from Florida, has already declared. But is Brown is considered more appealing than the 72-year-old Smith or Jim Rubens, a former state senator. With Brown, New Hampshire Republicans can stop looking for a “magic bullet” candidate,” according to Boston Herald pundit Michael Graham.  

The Boston Globe sees Brown’s “middle-of-the-road approach to governing” playing “as well, or perhaps even better, in New Hampshire.”  His fiscal conservatism and moderation on social issues, says a Globe editorial this morning,  is “a decent fit.”

But the storm clouds are gathering. The Globe also says that New Hampshire voters are “notoriously skeptical.” For a Senate run, he is going to have to demonstrate some deep understanding of Granite State issues fairly quickly

Will the Brown package really appeal? The Herald’s Kimberly Atkins opines that Brown’s support for a federal assault weapons ban is going to create problems in a state where voters really like their guns. Even though Republican Party officials may be doing cartwheels over the prospect of Brown’s candidacy, the party is starting to split over the man from Wrentham -er Rye.  Gun opponents have vowed to turn out in force for Brown’s Thursday night fundraiser in Nashua. A leader of the New Hampshire Firearms Coalition has called GOP leaders “sellouts” for fawning over Brown.

The Herald’s Joe Battenfeld warns that New Hampshire voters aren’t pushovers. They are accustomed to seeing candidates up close and personal, so Brown better be prepared to show voters that he knows the issues, not random conservative talking points.

Brown’s biggest problem, however, may not be guns or slips of the tongue about Massach-er New Hampshire. It’s Jeanne Shaheen, the Democratic senator who he’s aiming to beat.

Shaheen remains popular in New Hampshire.  She has taken hits on Obamacare, which she supported, but has vigorously criticized the rollout.  A New Hampshire Political Insiders survey by the NHJournal, an online news site, found that 48 percent of New Hampshire political insiders thought that Brown could beat Shaheen; 36 percent thought otherwise, and 16 percent were unsure.

Shaheen is the only woman to have been elected a governor and a US senator. She won’t go quietly. Brown’s former nemesis, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, is already raising cash for her (though Shaheen might want to keep the liberal Warren at arms length on the campaign trail).

Commentary’s Jonathan Tobin delivers the most sobering reality check for candidate Brown: “While Obamacare may make Shaheen vulnerable, she is no Martha Coakley. Even if he wins his party’s nomination, he’ll have the fight of his life on his hands to unseat her.”

 

–GABRIELLE GURLEY

    

BEACON HILL

It will be a Battle of the Bands on Beacon Hill as lawmakers from the South Shore push competing tunes — the somewhat forgotten “Road Runner” by the Modern Lovers  and Aerosmith’s iconic “Dream On” — to be named the state’s official rock song.

Two state social workers are fired in the case of a missing boy, WBUR reports. State investigators are now combing through the two workers’ caseloads.

MUNICIPAL MATTERS

Quincy Mayor Thomas Koch has hired a construction consultant to give him real estimates, not “spin,” on claims from the master developer of the $1.6 billion downtown makeover that has been put on pause because of spiraling costs.

James Kostaras, a former Boston Redevelopment Authority official lays out a blueprint for revitalizing, not dismantling, the much-reviled agency. The BRA, already pushing development projects out the door at a breakneck pace, adds a special January 2 board meeting ahead of Mayor Tom Menino’s exit.

Peabody is counting on a boutique hotel and restaurant in the O’Shea Building to turn around its downtown, the Salem News reports.

Somerset officials have issued a $3.5 million abatement to the owners of the Brayton Pointpower plant, which is closing down in 2017, but should offset most of it with a $3 million state grant.

NATIONAL POLITICS/WASHINGTON

Rep. Paul Ryan wants to chair the House Ways and Means committee.

ELECTIONS

Attorney general candidate Warren Tolman calls for fingerprint ID technology on all new guns, the Telegram & Gazette reports. Gun issues could play a big role in the race, which also features Rep. Harold Naughton of Clinton and Maura Healey, a special assistant district attorney in Middlesex County.

Greater Boston does a roundtable round-up of the political year in Massachusetts, focusing on the impending seismic shift at Boston City Hall and the diminishing relevance of the GOP in New England.

Though it gave short shrift to the issue during the campaign, the Globe reports today on total spending in the Boston mayor’s contest by outside groups, who dumped into the race twice as much money on behalf of Mayor-elect Marty Walsh as they did John Connolly.

BUSINESS/ECONOMY

A banking trade group says the number of consumers regularly paying off credit card balances has risen 50 percent since before the recession.

Amid class tensions and housing price woes, Slate’s Matt Yglesias wants Silicon Valley to relocate to Cleveland.

Winding down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will mean more expensive mortgages.

EDUCATION

The Massachusetts Maritime Academy became the eighth school in the state’s nine-campus university system to approve arming campus police, leaving only the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston without an armed force.

The former chief financial officer of the Merrimack Education Center is indicted on charges of fraud, the Lowell Sun reports.

A Harvard University student who allegedly was trying to avoid an exam is charged with making bomb threats that disrupted the campus, WBUR reports. The Crimson digs in here.

A New York Times editorial digs into America’s lagging school performance, spotlighting teacher training in Finland, robust funding in Canada, and cross-class efforts in Shanghai.

North Shore Community College in Lynn scraps a $1 million culinary and cosmetology program due to funding problems, the Item reports.

HEALTH CARE

The summary of a report due to be released today says higher costs to insurers from a proposed acquisition by Partners HealthCare of South Shore Hospital and a nearby doctors’ group would overwhelm any efficiency savings such a merger might yield.

Union workers at hospitals around the state owned by the for-profit Steward Health Care have reached an agreement on a new three-year contract that includes 2 percent annual raises, a minimum living wage for lower-tier workers, and more affordable health insurance. The Eagle-Tribune story is here.

Adrian Walker has the truly unlikely story of where former Burlington state rep and Bob DeLeo nemesis Charley Murphy has landed: CEO of the Harvard Street Community Health Center in Dorchester.

TRANSPORTATION

Jim Stergios of the Pioneer Institute argues in CommonWealth that New Bedford and Fall River need investment, not a commuter train to Boston.

A commuter rail train derails in Fitchburg.

ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT

Salem Mayor Kimberley Driscoll sounds a conciliatory tone toward environmentalists opposed to a new natural gas-fired power plant in her town, but says the community needs the jobs and tax revenue, the Item reports.

San Francisco mulls banning plastic water bottles, Time reports.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE

The family of Odin Lloyd has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against former Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez, who is charged with murdering the Dorchester semi-pro football player.

An Ipswich police sergeant, the brother of the chief, is on paid leave and no one is saying why, the Salem News reports.

Officials at Stonehill College in Easton are coming under fire for warning their own students about a rape on campus but waiting nearly a month before alerting the public.

MEDIA

A website developed by intrepid British blogger Elliot Higgins devoted to investigative reporting is expected to launch next year.

The New Republic’s Laura Bennett questions whether the views on Bloomberg View are making much of a mark.