|
 Brown faces a three-way primary with former state Senator Jim
Rubens, whose campaign has won the backing of a new super-PAC aimed
at reducing the role of money in U.S. politics, and former U.S.
Senator Bob Smith.
Prominent U.S. Republicans including Arizona Senator John McCain,
former Massachusetts Governor and failed 2012 presidential candidate
Mitt Romney and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush have all thrown
their weight beyond Brown, seeing his candidacy as a chance for
their party to retake a majority in the U.S. Senate, which Democrats
currently control by a 53-45 margin.
Brown stunned Massachusetts Democrats in 2010 when he won the U.S.
Senate seat held by Edward M. Kennedy for a half-century. He lost to
Elizabeth Warren in his first re-election bid, in 2012, and did a
stint as a Fox News commentator before moving to New Hampshire,
where he was raised, late last year with an eye on another run for
office.
On the campaign trail, he has presented himself as a voice for
compromise in Washington and generally struck more moderate policy
positions than Rubens and Smith.
Rubens' campaign has also won national backing, from a recently
formed Super PAC with the improbable mission of reducing the role of
money in politics.
[to top of second column] |
The Mayday PAC, dreamed up by Harvard Law School professor Lawrence
Lessig and funded in part by Silicon Valley moguls, last month began
running ads in support of Rubens, who backs the group's idea of
replacing the current campaign finance system with a taxpayer-funded
model that Lessig said would ultimately reduce the influence of
wealthy special interest groups.
The vote comes on the last day of primary voting in the United
States, and voters in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York and
Delaware also head to polls.
(Writing by Scott Malone; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
