Open Letter To Scott Brown

Congratulations on an incredible, not to mention improbable, victory. There's always a Republican on the ballot in places like Massachusetts, or here in San Francisco, but 99% of the time, he's nothing more than a quixotic hobbyist taking on an entrenched machine. In football, they like to say that any team can win on any given Sunday, but sadly it doesn't work that way in much of American political life. That's why your victory is so satisfying, especially for those of us who live in places where voting Republican is a thankless endeavor. For all that, though, I only have two words for you:

"Earn this!"

There are a lot of people in your state who broke with years, if not decades, of voting patterns that engrained them with the idea that voting for Democrats, and especially Kennedies, was as much a part of Massachusetts as rooting for the Red Sox. You need to show those people - there are thousands - that voting for a Republican is not a vote for Tom Delay-style corruption.

"Earn This!"

Don't fall in with the prima donnas like Lindsay Graham, looking for an opportunity to preen for the NY Times editorial board by denouncing the bedrock principles of your own party. I know you're from Massachusetts, so no one's expecting you to be the second coming of Ronald Reagan. We can forgive the occasional pro-choice vote, and the like. But, there are some things that are off limits: no denouncing judicial nominees from your own party, no tears over "torture," no card check, no stimulus, no Keynsian deficits, and no amnesty.

"Earn This!"

The eyes of the political world will be on you for the next couple weeks, so watch what you say. That means no Birther crap. No "jokes." And, no musing out loud about bizarre proposals like, say, putting poor kids into orphanages

"Earn This!"

On a personal level, this is no time for partying or a mid-life crisis. Don't go on any walks along the Appalachian Trail. Don't hang out at bars without your wife. Don't go to David Vitter's place to "hang out." We will find out faster than you realize. You ran for a seat in the Senate. There will be a lot of people watching, and some of them will be watching only because they want to see you fall. Don't give them the rope with which to hang you.

"Earn This!"

Most of all, don't get too comfortable. The man you are replacing held your seat for 47 years, through a combination of incumbency, family ties, and his own brio. You are already facing another election in 2012. Don't think that the voters will go back to lazily re-electing incumbents by then. The defining characteristic of American politics in the early 21st century is engagement. We may live in a fractured media environment, but voters are keenly aware of what their political leaders are up to; much more so than I can remember 15 or 20 years ago. There's not too many places where you can hide in public life, which means you will have to be a better man than the one you are replacing.

"Earn This!"