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Mass. Democratic Party Chair: We'll Defeat Sen. Brown 'On The Ground'

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Elizabeth Warren may be a favorite of the convention crowd here in Charlotte, but back home in Massachusetts, polls show her race with Republican Sen. Scott Brown is virtually deadlocked.

But that is not causing worrries for the chairman of the state Democratic Party, John Walsh.

"I read some of the national stuff and I smile. 'Why isn't she blowing Scott Brown out of the water? This is liberal crazy blue Massachusetts.' And I think, yeah, we voted for Reagan twice, we had 16 years of Republican governors," he chuckled. "This is destined to be a close election."

Even with a recent survey by Public Policy Polling showing Brown with a five-point lead over Warren, Walsh maintains that he's not concerned.

"That's exactly where I want to be because we're going to win this on the ground, face-to-face, person-to-person," Walsh said.

But that same poll showed the majority of Massachusetts voters would want Democrats to keep control of the U.S. Senate — which could change in this election.

"I think what people are seeing with Scott Brown ... is OK, he's a good guy. I like the truck and the coat maybe," Walsh said. "And, you know, every once in a while he's made the point that I'll cross the aisle and I'll vote for something."

Walsh sidestepped questions about whether the poll results mean Democratic voters did not like Warren.

"I think the question there is: On the issues, [voters are] with us," Walsh said. "On the coat and the truck, they sort of like the image he's putting forward; that's why he's exclusively on an image-based campaign."

To close that discrepancy, Walsh said Democrats need to knock on doors and get their message out face-to-face. But several Democrats have said this week that while they think Warren is a great campaigner, her campaign is not up to snuff.

"She's pretty darn good, so if we can get the campaign to hit her standard of this, then she's going to win big," Walsh said. "I think her campaign has been doing very, very well."

This program aired on September 6, 2012.

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