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Weld Endorses Brown; Caroline Kennedy Endorses Warren

U.S. Sen. Scott Brown speaks with reporters as former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld looks on after Weld endorsed Brown in Boston Friday. (Winslow Townson/AP)
U.S. Sen. Scott Brown speaks with reporters as former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld looks on after Weld endorsed Brown in Boston Friday. (Winslow Townson/AP)

The U.S. Senate candidates are touting dueling endorsements.

On Friday, Republican former Gov. William Weld endorsed GOP U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, and Caroline Kennedy endorsed Democratic candidate Elizabeth Warren.

Weld, governor from 1991 to 1997, called the senator "moderate" and "independent" at Brown campaign headquarters in Boston.

Weld, who now lives in New York, said Brown has stood up to his own party and shown a willingness to cross the aisle on critical votes.

“One of Scott Brown’s first votes as a U.S. senator was for a Democratic jobs bill,” Weld said. “That’s really all the proof you need that on the crucial economic needs of the day, Scott can and will work with anyone of goodwill to get the job done.”

In contrast, "Elizabeth Warren can’t name a single Republican she’d work with,” Weld said, referring to the Senate candidates' debate on Monday, “and the one she finally named is retiring. That’s deeply concerning.”

Weld also jumped into the controversy over Warren’s American Indian heritage by suggesting the law professor ask Harvard University to release her records.

“And if in the context of this issue there are personal records, personnel records that exist that would answer the question, that’s the obvious place you go to put an end to the uncertainty and answer the question,” Weld said.

Warren campaigned Friday with Kennedy and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino.

Kennedy’s endorsement is the first public event a senior member of the Kennedy family has held to endorse Warren. In Charlestown, where her father, President John F. Kennedy, began his political career, Kennedy compared Warren to her uncle, Edward M. Kennedy, who held the seat Brown now holds.

“And I know that in the United States Senate, Elizabeth will fight for seniors, for middle-class families, just like my Uncle Teddy did,” Caroline Kennedy said.

She said Warren worked with Republicans when overseeing the Trouble Assets Relief Program and setting up the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau.

With reporting by WBUR's Fred Thys, Martha Bebinger and The Associated Press

This article was originally published on October 05, 2012.

This program aired on October 5, 2012. The audio for this program is not available.

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