MA-Sen: The NRSC’s Secret Plan

BOSTON — John Bresnahan has the details on the National Republican Senatorial Committee’s extremely quiet, under-the-radar support for Scott Brown’s candidacy in Massachusetts. The basics: $500,000 in aid, starting on Jan. 7.

The timing is important here. On Jan. 5, Rasmussen Reports released a poll showing Democratic candidate Martha Coakley up only 9 points on Brown. On Jan. 6, Coakley launched her first general election ad, having been beat to the punch by more than a week by Brown. It was pretty thin gruel, the sort of thing an attorney general candidate might run, compared to Brown’s attention-getting ads comparing his agenda to JFK’s and filming him as he traveled in a pick-up truck.

It’s not surprising that Republicans spotted an opportunity there. But at a rally in North Andover yesterday, I asked Republican National Committee member Jody Dow if the national committees had done enough to help Brown. She smiled wryly. “They’ve done what they needed to,” she said.