BOSTON - The pickup truck is back, in a big way.
When Scott P. Brown ran for the Senate as a Republican in a special election in 2010, he promoted himself as a “regular guy†by driving around Massachusetts in a green 2005 GMC Canyon truck. He had bought it to haul a horse trailer for one of his daughters, but it nonetheless served as a handy symbol of the candidate as a common man.
With Senator Brown back on the campaign trail this year defending his seat against a strong challenge from Elizabeth Warren, the Democratic nominee and a Harvard Law professor, his truck is also back front and center.
In a new series of television commercials that began Monday, Mr. Brown speaks from behind the wheel as he drives across Massachusetts.
In the first ad, he discusses his difficult youth.
“Like many of you, I didn't have it easy growing up,†Mr. Brown says in the 30-second spot. “Moved around a lot as a kid. My mom had to work more than one job just to get by. Life certainly wasn't a picnic.â€
The series of commercials is called “From the Road†and coincides with a cross-state trip that Mr. Brown is taking in the week leading up to the Republican National Convention, although Mr. Brown does not mention the convention or that he is a Republican.
His campaign notes in a news release that each ad in the series “will open with Brown inside the cab of his truck, made famous in the 2010 special election as a symbol of his ‘regular guy' image.â€
Can the $600 barn coat - also made famous in the special election - be far behind?
