< Back to front page Text size – +

Rachel Maddow criticizes Sen. Brown in ad

E-mail|Link|Comments () March 26, 2010 11:35 AM

Rachel Maddow took issue with a Scott Brown fund-raising letter.

By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

MSNBC-TV talk show host Rachel Maddow is lambasting Republican Senator Scott Brown in a full-page ad in the Globe today, saying he used a "made-up" rumor that she would run against him for Senate in an e-mail to raise funds.

"I'm running this ad not because I'm running against Scott Brown -- I'm not, he made that up -- but because he's the senator for all of us," Maddow, a western Massachusetts resident, says in the ad, "and maybe this will make him think twice the next time he wants to smear one of his constituents to raise money out of state."

In a fund-raising e-mail sent out Tuesday, Brown says that "liberal MSNBC anchor" Maddow is being recruited by the "political machine in Massachusetts."

"I'm sure she's a nice person -- I just don't think America can afford her liberal politics," Brown said in the e-mail.

"It was an open secret that the Democrats were trying to recruit Rachel Maddow to run against Scott Brown in 2012. Now that she’s said no, I’m sure they’ll scurry around looking for someone else. Maybe Keith Olbermann’s available," Brown adviser Eric Fehrnstrom said this morning in a statement.

Maddow says in the ad today, "I'm not running against Scott Brown. I never said I was running against Scott Brown. The Massachusetts Democratic Party never asked me to run against Scott Brown. It's just not true. Honestly. I swear. No, really."

Her ad also included a plug for her show as she challenged Brown to appear on it.

"My show airs at 9 p.m. Eastern in Massachusetts on MSNBC. So far, Scott Brown refuses to come on. Maybe he'll change his mind -- I hope he does," the ad said.