Since his time as a Massachusetts state senator from Wrentham, Scott Brown has said he doesn't make much of the polls, but he can't help but be pleased as he competes in New Hampshire's close race for a seat in the U.S. Senate.
"The Republican Party is back in New Hampshire and we are ready to lead," New Hampshire GOP Chair Jennifer Horn said.
And ready for the national stage, apparently. The Republican National Committee is spending dollars and bringing attention here for its U.S. Senate candidate Scott Brown, who worked the phones urging voters to support him in November.
Party powerhouse and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was back in New Hampshire for the third time this summer.
NECN there as he was stumping for gubernatorial candidate Walt Havenstein in Bedford in June; he was here in Salem on Wednesday trying to show why Brown is a better choice for voters than Democratic incumbent Jeanne Shaheen.
"The thing that I love about Scott Brown the most is that this is a guy who knows how to get things done," Christie said.
Earlier in the day, the New Hampshire Democratic Party unleashed a so-called Massachusetts Truth Team, railing against Brown's time as a U.S. Senator from Massachusetts.
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"No matter what comes out of his mouth, we know who has his ear, and that’s Wall Street, big banks, and people with big money," said Barbara Weniger, owner of Lakota Bakery in Arlington, Massachusetts.
The Democrats will have to continue to spend big money on Shaheen to keep up with the GOP. She's popular here in New Hampshire, but President Obama is not, and the direction of the message from Christie and Brown was clear.
"They're desperate and they're flailing, actually. We're working hard to talk about the issues. We're talking about immigration, we're talking about ISIS, we're talking about energy, we're talking about Obamacare. She can't talk about those things because she's voting with the president 99 percent of the time," Brown said.
"I can't find anybody I agree with 99 percent of the time. I don't agree with myself 99 percent of the time, okay?" Christie joked. "So, this is just about partisanship. What we need is somebody like Scott, who is going to go down there and consider these issues on the merits."
The most recent CNN poll has Shaheen and Brown in a statistical dead heat, with 48 percent each.
Christie, by the way, says he will be back in New Hampshire soon.
