The Hill News

Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown (R) holds an early lead over would-be Democratic challengers heading into one of the most-watched Senate races of the 2012 cycle thus far.

Brown would best both Rep. Mike Capuano (D-Mass.) and Elizabeth Warren, a former Harvard professor and adviser to the Obama administration, if the election were held today, according to a Western New England College poll released Monday.

Fifty-one percent of registered voters polled said they'd reelect Brown in a race against Capuano, whom 38 percent of Massachusetts voters polled said they would support. Ten percent were undecided.

In a race against Warren, the former watchdog for the 2008 Wall Street bailout program, Brown would prevail, 51-34 percent, with 14 percent undecided.

Th! e Massachusetts Republican is going to be one of the most heavily targeted candidates by Democrats in the 2012 cycle, having won a special election in early 2010 to succeed the late, iconic Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), who'd held the Senate seat for decades.

Brown's carefully managed his votes and his image since coming to the Senate, voting with Democrats on some issues, like Wall Street reform or repealing the military's "Don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays. He's set out on an aggressive fundraising bid to support his reelection effort next fall, and embarked in February on a media blitz to support his new book, which included revelations of sexual and physical abuse Brown suffered as a youth.

A majority of Massachusetts voters â€" 57 percent â€" said they have a favorable opinion of Brown, compared to 24 percent who hold an unfavorable view of the GOP senator. Moreover, 52 percent of voters said Brown deserves to be reelected, driven in partic! ular by support from both Republicans and independent voters.
If Brown were to win reelection and another six years in the Senate, it would be a tremendous disappointment for Democrats, who'd long held that seat and have high hopes of recapturing it during a presidential election cycle in deep-blue Massachusetts.

Capuano's considered one of the top contenders to challenge Brown. The seven-term congressman's head-to-head numbers are no doubt suppressed in part by the fact that 27 percent of Massachusetts voters haven't heard of Capuano. Among those who have heard of Capuano, they have a 30-14 percent favorable/unfavorable rating.

The poll, conducted March 6-10, has a 4.5 percent margin of error.