Tea-Totaler - BostonHerald.com

U.S. Sen. Scott Brown — a sometime Tea Party darling who’s been tagged as a potential 2012 target after the Bay State’s Democratic landslide in last week’s elections — yesterday downplayed the importance of the controversial conservative movement and its new foothold in Washington.

“I’m not sure who they are,” said Brown when asked about the election of senators with reported Tea Party ties. Brown said he’s known U.S. Sens.-elect Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Pat Toomey (R-Penn.) before the election and, “They don’t come and say, ‘Hey, I’m a Tea Party member.’ They come and say, ‘Hey, I’m a U.S. senator representing my state.’ ”"