From the campaign trail to the Amanoosuc Ravine Trail, New Hampshire U.S. Senate candidate Scott Brown joined a group of veteran hikers, including New Hampshire state Sen. Jed Bradley, to climb Mt. Washington, the highest peak in the Northeast.
They hit the summit in just under three hours.
"One of the thigs I've wanted to do since I was a kid," Brown said at the peak. "I've never even driven up here. You drive by it all the time, you see the observatories, say 'Someday I want to go up there,' it was on one of my bucket lists."
NECN asked Brown about a headline this week on a prominent political website, calling his campaign marred by missteps.
"I don't bother reading a lot of the blogs and things like that. I think we're doing very well. We're very satisfied where we are," he said.
Two recent polls show Brown trailing his Democratic opponent, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, by about 8-10 percent. Brown says that will change after the primary in September.
"I'm running like I'm down 40, and when we unite the party after the election, after the primary, Sen. Shaheen's worst nightmare, 'cause she understands the numbers as well as I do. There's a reason why they're spending all that money against me right now, 'cause they recognize that it is close and that it's getting closer," he said.
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Brown has put two issues front and center in the campaign: Obamacare, which he says he'll work to repeal and replace; and immigration, which he says he does not support driver's licenses or in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants, though he did support a similar measure when he was a Massachusetts state senator.
"With all due respect, you know how those late night votes go. We had, what, thousand votes in the late-night vote-o-rama. Everybody voted for that, and you know there was no consensus. When we determined it was an error, we all called Governor Romney and he immediately vetoed it," he said.
There's also the Hobby Lobby decision, in which the U.S. Supreme Court decided corporations could not be required to provide contraception coverage for their employees. A British journalist got a lot of mileage out of a report that Brown ran from him in a restaurant and hid in a bathroom rather than explain his position on the decision.
Brown has a different version.
"Some guy from England comes and barges into the lunch and he didn't identify himself, he was very aggressive with us. The owner asked him to leave, and I'm sorry, after I eat, I usually go to relieve myself and wash my hands," he said.
What is his position?
"I have always, even back in the days of the state Senate, have supported the ability of people of faith to practice their faith. It's one of the basic tenets of our Constitution, the freedom of religion, and I believe that and I believe we can strike a balance," he said.
Brown's recognition in New Hampshire is growing as evidenced by the reception he got high atop Mt. Washington.
