n first debate, Scott Brown hits Elizabeth Warren on Cherokee claim

BOSTON — Republican Sen. Scott Brown wasted no time lacing into Elizabeth Warren over her controversial claim of Native American heritage Thursday night, attempting to reignite broader questions about her character during the first debate of their fiercely contested Senate campaign.
Brown took the first question of the hour-long face-off to yank the scab off a controversy that wounded Warren’s campaign last spring, when it was revealed she identified herself as a minority while serving as a university professor.

“Professor Warren claimed that she was a Native American, a person of color and as you can see, she’s not,” said Brown, who repeatedly called on Warren to release her personnel records to put to rest whether the claim helped her gain employment at Harvard University or the University of Pennsylvania. “When you are a U.S. Senator, you have to pass a test and that’s one of character and honesty and truthfulness. I believe and others believe she’s failed that test.”
Warren denied ever using her Cherokee status to get into college or law school and invoked her family in defense.
“The people who hired me have spoken and they’ve been clear about it,” Warren said at the debate, hosted by CBS affiliate WBZ. “I didn’t get an advantage because of my background. But this is about family. I can’t and won’t change who I am. I am who I am.

Undeterred, Brown went back a third time at Warren. “You refuse to release your records and I think that speaks volumes,” he said.
The exchange at the outset set the tone for a testy debate, Brown consistently addressed Warren as “professor” and Warren attempted to dent the incumbent’s image as an independent who bucks the party line.
The two also sparred over tax cuts for the wealthy, oil subsidies and their philosophies on confirming Supreme Court nominees.
When Warren took a shot at Brown for voting against the nomination of Justice Elena Kagan, she framed the vote in grandiose terms.
“This really may be the race for the control of the Senate and the Supreme Court may hang in the balance,” she said.
After trailing Brown in summer polling, Warren is riding a wave of fresh momentum out of the Democratic National Convention.
Of the five public polls taken since the convention, Warren led in four of them by a range of 2 to 6 percentage points. Only a UMass/Boston Herald survey published Thursday gave Brown the upper hand by 4 points.

Earlier in the day in Washington, Brown raised the prospect that he might miss the first of their debate because of votes, but he later caught an afternoon flight back home.
The two candidates will face off next Oct. 1 at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell.