Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) defended himself against the accusation that his campaign is not serious on Thursday by speaking of "secret meetings," sometimes with royal figures.
"Each and every day that I’ve been a United States senator, I’ve been discussing issues, meeting on issues, in secret meetings with kings and queens and prime ministers and business leaders and military leaders, talking, voting, working on issues every single day," he said on Jim Braude and Margery Eagan's show on local station WTTK-FM, according to the Boston Globe.
Colin Reed, a Brown spokesman, told the Globe that he was "speaking generally about private meetings he has had with foreign and domestic leaders."
Brown has run television ads featuring his wife, local television reporter Gail Huff, celebrating him as a husband and father. He has also praised the Celtics and Fenway Park in radio spots. Previous television ads have played up his bipartisanship and not mentioned that he is a Republican. In the Thursday interview, Brown also cited an ad proposing delays in military base closings as evidence of his substance.
Brown is tied with Democratic nominee Elizabeth Warren, a Harvard Law professor, in the closely watched Senate race.
UPDATE: 1:45 p.m. -- Democrats quickly seized upon Brown's "kings and queens" comment, with humorous Mitt Romney-meme creator Matt Ortega creating a Tumblr site Scott Brown's Jubilee poking fun at his recent comments.
Brown's spokesman, Colin Reed, later told the Globe that the Massachusetts senator "misspoke when he said kings and queens."