Brown: ‘It was everybody’ who propelled him to victory, not just Tea Party activists

Senator-elect Scott Brown, R-Massachusetts, signs a campaign poster as people gather around him at a restaurant in Chicopee, Mass. Friday, Jan. 29, 2010. Brown kicked off a three-day "thank-you" tour across Massachusetts. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

Tea Party activists from across the country poured money into his campaign coffers and littered the blogs with pleas of support to Massachusetts voters for him. But Senator-elect Scott Brown, a Republican elected just two weeks ago to the U.S. Senate seat long-held by Ted Kennedy, does not give them all the credit for his victory. Barbara Walters, guest hosting ABC’s This Week pressed Brown on his thoughts on the grassroots movement that has claimed much credit for his win. “The Tea Party movement was important to your victory. How influential do you think the Tea Party movement is going to be?” Walters asked. Brown rejected her premise. “Well, you’re making an assumption that the Tea Party movement was influential, and I have to respectfully disagree. It was everybody. I had a plurality,” he said. “But it was part of it,” Walters responded. “Of course, it was,” he said. Brown — perhaps the Republican Party’s most popular for the moment — also refused to say whether he’d consider a run against President Barack Obama in 2012. “I have to tell you, I don’t even have a business card,” Brown said. “I haven’t even been sworn in. I don’t have any exploratory committees started. I don’t have any — anything — it’s — it’s overwhelming, and it’s extremely humbling.”

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The pro-choice Republican, who told Walters that he supports his state’s decision on legalizing gay marriage, said the Republican Party “can do whatever they want” in regard to whether they should be more conservative or more moderate. “I just know that I’m a Scott Brown Republican. What does that mean? That means I’m going to go down there and be accountable, accessible, open, and honest, and I’m going to bring good government and fairness back to the equation,” he said. Asked if former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, a Republican, is presidential material, Brown said “sure. I mean, she’s been a mayor, and a governor. And — and has a lot of — a national following.”