Romney Endorses Brown, Blasts Obama and Shaheen

STRATHAM, N.H. – Mitt Romney returned to the New Hampshire farm where he launched his presidential campaign and he strummed familiar campaign chords as he endorsed Scott Brown for U.S. Senate and attacked the Democratic incumbent.
 
President Obama failed to live up to his promises and has done nothing to help an economy that is just "bumping along the bottom," Romney said July 2 at Stella and Doug Scamman's "Bittersweet Farm."

Obama is not on the ballot in November, but Romney said Granite Staters can vote on what they think of his policies with U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) on the ballot.

"She's not an independent thinker when it comes to her votes," Romney said. "She just goes along with whatever the president tells her to do. Washington is not a place where New Hampshire wants to play a game of 'Simon Says.' She's a 'Simon Says' senator. We don't need that. We need an independent senator."

Romney's endorsement comes as no surprise. They are friends, and he and Brown worked together on Beacon Hill when Romney was governor and Brown was a state senator. The Brown campaign positioned the endorsement, along with state Senate President Chuck Morse (R-Salem), as a sign of momentum for building GOP support with just about two months to go until the Sept. 9 primary.

Brown, who is on the GOP ballot with nine other Republicans, referenced the state primary ahead.

"In the September primary and on election day in November, voters across this great state can send the clearest possible message: the Obama-Shaheen agenda ends right here, right now," Brown said, speaking from a flat-bed truck in front of a barn. "This election is America's last chance to pass judgment on the performance of President Obama and, as we know, he's not on the ballot. But guess what, his biggest supporter, Senator Shaheen, is on the ballot."

Brown called Shaheen a "rubber stamp" for the president's policies, and called her the deciding vote for the Affordable Care Act, aka "Obamacare."

New Hampshire Democratic Party Chairman Raymond Buckley said Brown and Romney were more interested in promoting themselves and special interests. In a press release, Buckley said, "When you get down to it, Scott Brown and Mitt Romney are really just both a couple of failed Massachusetts politicians who own summer homes in New Hampshire, and stand with Wall Street and Big Oil at the expense of working families."

Buckley also sounded some familiar themes, mentioning candidate Romney's 47 percent remarks during the presidential campaign.