Scott Brown Talked To Palin Before He Didn't Talk To Her

Sen.-elect Scott Brown is his own brand of Republican, but that hasn't stopped analysts and political opponents from asking about his affiliations with Tea Partiers and other assorted facets of the conservative movement--including one of its heroes, Sarah Palin.

So it was a bit curious when, despite having talked to Palin on election night in Massachusetts, he told the Associated Press that he hadn't ever spoken to her.

"I don't know Sarah Palin. I've never spoken with her. She's never reached out, vice versa. I just know what happened in my race, ... it's all been very exciting and very, very positive," Brown told The Associated Press on January 28, nine days after his victory in the Massachusetts Senate race.


But Brown received a congratulatory phone call from Palin on election night, as Palin spokeswoman Meg Stapleton told Politico soon after it happened.

Brown's spokesman, Felix Browne, confirmed that Sen.-elect Brown did receive the call. "Sarah Palin placed a congratulatory phone call to him on election night. Prior to that Scott Brown had no contact with Sarah Palin but it was nice of her to call," Browne said in an e-mail.

A minor discrepancy, and the Associated Press lists Brown's quote by itself, so it's hard to tell how the conversation went up until that point; but, given Palin's national prominence, and the fact that Democrats had sought to tie Brown to Palin during the election--national Democrats sent out press releases highlighting Brown's praise for Palin and Palin's praise for Brown, seeking to paint Brown as a Palin-style conservative, and Sen. John Kerry compared Brown's more riled-up supporters to attendees of Palin's rallies on the presidential campaign trail in '08--it's also an interesting one.