Bipartisan Brown

Dems donate to Scott Brown, take credit for his ideas

Republican Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown is burnishing his bipartisan credentials by receiving increased financial support from top Democratic donors, while the 2012 Democratic National Platform is taking credit for his signature piece of legislation.

Bruce Percelay, a longtime Democratic donor and close friend of Sen. John Kerry, is making a rare trek across party lines to support Brown. Percelay plans to work for Kerry’s reelection in 2014 and has given tens of thousands of dollars to Reps. Ed Markey and Mike Capuano as well as the national Democratic Party. But earlier this year Percelay gave $3,250 to Brown.

"Elizabeth Warren is not someone who I can comfortably wrap my arms around," he said. "Not everyone is willing to express it, but [Brown] is the perfect Massachusetts Republican. He’s socially moderate and fiscally conservative and not a strong ideologue. People are very comfortable with that."

Meanwhile, "Moving America Forward," the 2012 Democratic National Platform, takes credit for the STOCK Act, which Brown "initially pushed" and which President Obama signed into law in April. According to the platform: "Democrats led the fight to enact the STOCK Act to ban congressional insider trading" (p. 45).

Brown was not mentioned as the driving force behind the passage of the STOCK Act.

Brown currently leads his Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren by 26 points among independents, according to Public Policy Polling. He leads Warren overall by six points, 49 to 43 percent, according to a Kimball Political Consulting poll.

Democratic Boston mayor Thomas Menino still has not endorsed Warren, while Brown has received numerous Democratic endorsements, including that of former Boston mayor Ray Flynn.