Scotto's No Dummy

It seems that a lot of Massachusetts Democrats are convinced that Senator Scotto has done serious harm to his re-election chances by co-sponsoring a bill that wildly overreacts to the recent birth-control coverage controversy. They might be right, but I'd caution that Brown is no political dummy.

He certainly remembers, for instance, that his special-election campaign got a major boost when Martha Coakley and the Massachusetts Democratic Party went after him on this same basic issue.

Indeed, Brown is well familiar with the tye of Democratic-identifying crossover voters who he's needed to win in Massachusetts, for state senate or US Senate. They are, in very large part, white, discontented, blue-collar, Irish-American Catholics.

This move checks off the Catholic box. His current push for an Irish immigration bill checks off the Irish-American box. His recent sponsorship of a bill to ban Congressional insider trading checks off the discontented box.

Go ahead and underestimate Scott Brown's political skills. He's used to that. And, he's Senator and you're not.