Dems Look for Challenger to Brown

Fox News reports

Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., who is fending off criticism from members of his own party for publicly opposing a GOP plan to overhaul Medicare, could face a potential challenge to his seat from the woman appointed by President Obama to run a controversial agency designed to protect consumers from bank abuses.

Elizabeth Warren, a Harvard law professor who is anathema to Republicans for her fierce criticism of the banks, reportedly is being recruited by Democrats to run for the seat that was held by Ted Kennedy for nearly half a century. Brown surprised Democrats by winning the seat in a special election in January 2010. He is up for re-election in 2012.

Now Democrats want Warren to abandon her role setting up the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, a byproduct of the sweeping Wall Street financial oversight law, for a campaign to unseat Brown, who is popular in a reliable blue state.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) would not confirm that it is wooing Warren to run nor would a spokesman deny it.

Warren hasn't said whether she's interested in running. She went to the Capitol on Tuesday to defend the bureau before the House panel overseeing the Troubled Assets Relief Program. Warren gave a detailed account about the agency's work so far and attempted to bat down criticism, but she wouldn't mention her future plans, saying it would be inappropriate to discuss a potential recess appointment.

Republicans suspect that Obama might appoint Warren to head the bureau when the Senate is in recess next week in response to their threat to block any other nomination until a director is chosen.