Hahahahaha! Looks like if he had his druthers, Scott Brown would not be attending his own debate against Elizabeth Warren tonight. Brown may have thought he had a viable excuse to miss the debate, until Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid spoke up. As an update to her recent front page post about the debate, Joan McCarter added this tweet:
When Harry Reid heard about it, he set the record straight:
“We have no more votes today. No more votes today. It’s obvious to me what’s going on,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, the top Democrat in the chamber. “I’ve been to a few of these rodeos. It is obvious there is a big stall taking place. One of the senators who had a debate tonight doesn’t want to debate. Well, he can’t use the Senate as an excuse. There will be no more votes today.”
Scott Brown, Harry Reid clash after Republican raises possibility of missing tonight’s debate
Thank you, Senator Reid!
Evidently, Brown is quite proud of his record on attending votes. He's only missed one.
“Bottom line is, the people have sent me down here to do my job -- and that’s to vote,” the senator said.
Voting is “the one thing that I can’t delegate to the staff,” he said in a hallway interview. “I’ve only missed one vote,” he said, blaming the missed vote on a delayed flight.
Data compiled by GovTrack.us corroborate Brown’s statement. According to the website, Brown missed just one vote out of 708 since February 2010.
It's not the fact that Brown has such an impressive record for attending votes that matters. It's what he's been voting for and against that counts. Sure he voted to waive the objection to the Veterans Jobs Bill yesterday. But would he have voted that way if he wasn't in tough re-election contest?
UPDATE 6: Seeing the actual video of Harry Reid making his comments on the Senate floor is even better than reading about it. Fortunately, Rachel Maddow aired it in between commercial breaks on tonight's show. I didn't realize that Reid interrupted a speech about jobs by Sen. Franken to make his comments on the floor. (For those using iPads, here's the the link to the video).
Also (H/T zapus) if you missed the debate, you can see the archived video online here, and Joan McCarter has a front page post reviewing the debate: Warren-Brown debate: Whose side are you on. Another great write-up was posted in a diary by lynne1: Boston Globe's Lehigh: "Warren hits her stride, while Brown stumbles".
UPDATE 5: There is also a live blog here at DailyKos: Brown vs Warren debate live blog and open thread.
UPDATE 4: The debate will be broadcast on C-Span 3 (H/T greenbird). If you don't get C-Span3 on your television, you can watch it online here. And if you can't watch it online or on television, The Boston Globe will be live blogging it (See Update 3). Also, according to the C-Span Schedule, the debate will be rebroadcast on C-Span2 at 10:24 p.m.
UPDATE 3: The Boston Globe is reporting at the live blog of the debate:
6:20 p.m. - Senator Brown has arrived, pulling up in is green pickup truck.
Live blog of first debate between Senator Scott Brown and challenger Elizabeth Warren
UPDATE 2: The plot thickens. According to
Talking Points Memo, this was a deliberate move on Reid's part to make sure the Brown would make it to his debate!
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid interrupted proceedings on the Senate floor to announce there would be no more votes Thursday afternoon, delaying action on pressing issues like funding the government.
(snip)
Reid’s maneuver came moments after the Boston Globe quoted Brown saying he’d skip the debates if called on for Senate business. His move came as a surprise to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell who appeared on the floor shortly after Reid to request evening votes proceed as scheduled. Reid objected.
Harry Reid Calls Off Votes To Prevent Scott Brown From Ditching Debate With Elizabeth Warren
Update 1: I was just checking the Google newsfeed to see if there was any more information about Scott Brown trying to get out of the debate, only to find that today is the day that Cosmopolitan magazine decided to remind people that Senator Scott Brown Posed Nude for Cosmo when he was a struggling college student.
The first comment to the post says it all:
Sharon
I agree...Scott Brown looks mighty good -- both now and in his centerfold spread. But make no mistake, if Elizabeth Warren had posed for a similarly discreet nude centerfold photo to pay for college, her political career would never get past the start line. Ever.
If men and womenare ever to truly be on equal footing someday, the question we should all ask is "Why is there a double standard?"