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Sens. Brown, Kerry Respond To Mid Term Elections

BOSTON (CBS) -- WBZ-TV caught up with Senator Scott Brown, whose election last January to the late Senator Ted Kennedy's seat set the stage nationally for Republicans; and with his Democratic colleague, Senator John Kerry, as both were rushing back to Washington D.C. in the jet wash of the mid-term elections.

"I'm not an analyst," declared Sen. Brown, following early morning National Guard training.

He and Sen. Kerry, following Tuesday night's statewide democratic victories, were reluctant to analyze the disparity between state and national results.

"A lot of state rep candidates I helped were successful," remarked Sen. Brown whose party lost all the state's U.S. Representative races.

"I know a lot of folks were engaged and that was the most important thing for me, to have a good, vibrant two-party system," he added.

The Senators from the Bay State focused their comments on how Congress will work now with Republicans controlling the U.S. House and Democrats holding onto the Senate and the White House.

"I'm hopeful what'll happen is what happened when Clinton was in office and everybody worked together to solve the country's problems," said Brown.

"It's clear to me that even across the country what voters are saying is, while the recession is over in technical terms, for too many Americans the recession is not over in terms of their lives," said Kerry.

"We're prepared to respect completely, the mood, the sentiment expressed across the country. To do otherwise would be insanity," he added.

"I'm just kind of hopeful that everyone will put their party, the little letter after their name, aside and just start getting back to the people's business," said Brown.

"We'll compromise, but we're not going to give away the store. You know, their version of compromise is, do what we want to do. That's not compromise. I've heard some of these Republicans who are already saying their goal is to destroy Barack Obama, gridlock the United States Senate and blame it on him," said Kerry.

Brown says he'll continue to be an independent voter and thinker. "We have some very real problems when it comes to the economy and the debt and the deficit," he noted.

"I believe, yes we have to reduce the deficit but I also believe we have to invest in America's future," said Kerry.

As there is a glaring contrast between election results in Massachusetts and elsewhere in the nation, it looks as though action will speak louder than the words bi-partisanship and optimism spoken today by the U.S. Senators from this state on both sides of the aisle.

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