"Reid woos Scott Brown on jobs bill"

Reid woos Scott Brown on jobs bill

Lacking votes on a jobs bill, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is reaching out to the man who cost Democrats their 60-vote supermajority: Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown.

Reid has been making calls to Republicans throughout this recess week in hopes of building bipartisan support for a seriously scaled-back jobs bill, and even though the GOP has heralded Brown as “Mr. 41” — the key to blocking the Democratic agenda — Reid clearly believes Brown is gettable on this issue.

Reid has been “making some phone calls to Republicans trying to see if they’ll support it,” spokesman Jim Manley said in a Wednesday afternoon interview.

Manley confirmed that Brown is among the handful of Republicans Reid has called, but he wouldn’t name others.

The wooing of Brown is rife with irony. His election devastated Democrats, and many saw his upset of Democrat Martha Coakley as the death knell for health care reform. Brown has already helped kill an Obama labor nominee, angering labor unions.

But Reid believes Brown may be open to bipartisan negotiations on jobs legislation.

“We need Republican votes,” Manley said. “In the end, it’s up to the Republicans. I don’t know how they’ll vote.”

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