Scott Brown: 'All I have going for me is my independent record'

In the end, elections often come down to image and personality as much as, if not more than, policies or party.


Look no further than 2004, when Republican George W. Bush won reelection over Democrat John Kerry despite a raging debate about the Iraq War and a consensus that the Massachusetts senator beat the incumbent president in three straight debates.


Many voters simply ended up preferring the back-slapping Bush over the more reserved Kerry, part of the reason he won.


Should Mitt Romney emerge as this year’s Republican presidential nominee, it’s a lesson that may cause him to shudder as he surveys a general election matchup against President Obama.


The Democrat’s campaign staff is already trying to brand Romney as “weird.”


The lesson is not lost on Senator Scott Brown, for whom the strength of image and the power of personality already permeate every fiber of his political identity and reelection campaign.


It kicks off today - the second anniversary of his upset win in the special election to replace the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy.


Brown rose from the state Senate to the US Senate in part through the barncoat-wearing, pickup-driving image he crafted for himself two years ago. And he has continued to underscore the importance of image to his political identity ever since, including in the web video he released yesterday to preview his speech tonight at Mechanics Hall in Worcester.


Many of you were here at Mechanics Hall two years ago, in the closing hours of a tough and memorable election. Worcester was the perfect place to wrap up that winning campaign in January 2010. So, the way I figure it, what better place to start the winning campaign of 2012?,” asked Brown. “"Two years ago today, the whole country was watching, waiting to see what would happen in Massachusetts. After we lost Ted Kennedy, there was suddenly a vacancy in the United States Senate. And for the political establishment, it came down to a simple question: Which Democrat would move into the seat?”


Brown kept the same theme of it being the peoples’ seat.


"A lot has changed in these two years, but not that. It is not the establishment's seat...it is not the Democrats' seat...It is still the people's seat - it's your seat. For anyone running, it still has to be earned. And that is what brings us here today: I am honored to be your United States senator, I am running for re-election to the U.S. Senate, and I ask for your vote,” Brown said.


"My likely opponent, Professor Warren, is a hard-working, talented, and accomplished academic. And she's got the other side pretty excited. She talks about how she's a, quote, 'rock thrower,' and rather than compromise she prefers to leave 'blood and teeth' on the floor. That sure doesn't sound like the kind of compromise and progress this country needs right now. I'm a bridge builder, not a rock thrower.”


Brown finished his speech not asking for votes, but saying just one thing that resonates with much of New England.