Senator Dean Heller (R-NV), Senator Scott Brown (R-MA), and Linda McMahon, Senate candidate for Connecticut spared no time in distancing themselves from Mitt Romney's controversial 47% remarks, according to Jason Linkins, in Dean Heller Distances Himself From Mitt Romney's '47 Percent' Comments. Heller remarks:
“Keep in mind, I have five brothers and sisters. My father was an auto mechanic. My mother was a school cook. I have a very different view of the world,” Heller said. “And as United States Senator, I think I represent everyone, and every vote’s important. Every vote’s important in this race. I don’t write off anybody.”
Heller is now the third GOP Senate candidate to be affected by the practical, political fallout from Romney's remarks. Earlier this week, Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) -- whose race against Elizabeth Warren has perhaps the most noticeably populist overtones -- split with Romney over his remarks in a statement from which Heller seems to have partially cribbed:
That’s not the way I view the world. As someone who grew up in tough circumstances, I know that being on public assistance is not a spot that anyone wants to be in. Too many people today who want to work are being forced into public assistance for lack of jobs.
Brown followed the lead of his fellow New England Republican Linda McMahon, a candidate for Senate in Connecticut -- who, it should be noted, was for Romney's "47%" rhetoric before she was against it -- and Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.).
Jason Linkins notes that conservative bloggers and pundits are still debating two schools of thoughts about Romney's remarks. The Peggy Noonan camp renounces them, and supports an "intervention, while the Rush Limbaugh camp embraces them as a "golden opportunity" to expose the "moocher-class."
But, these three Senate candidates don't need to wait for a weatherman, or conservative consensus, to tell them which way the wind is blowing.