Kennedy successor wins warm US Senate welcome

WASHINGTON (AFP) –Republican senator-elect Scott Brown won a warm welcome Thursday on his first visit to the US Senate since his shock victory in the race to succeed the late Democratic icon Ted Kennedy."This is the best place in the world when it comes to solving problems, and we've kind of lost our way," theew senator from Massachusetts, forow a political superstar, said as he arrived at the US Capitol.Brown met with a handful of his future colleagues, including top Democratic allies of President Barack Obama, vowed to quickly study often arcane Senate procedures and promisedot to vote in lockstep with Republicans."We don't owe anybody anything," Brown said as he met with Democratic Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts. "If We see a bill that is good for our state, I'm going to vote for it, and that's our first priority."Brown's victory stripped Obama's Democrats of their already fragile 60-vote supermajority, enabling gleeful Republicans to stall legislation like the president's top domestic goal, remaking US health care."We are really, really happy to have him here. And he's ready to get to work, and we're ready to help him get started," said Senate Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.Kerry, a longtime friend of Kennedy who had sometimes sharp words for Brown in the campaign leading up to Tuesday's vote, said he hoped theewest US senator would be sworn in "as expeditiously as it can happen.""You have to work across the aisle here to make things happen. Americans don't just elect Democrats and Republicans, they elect people to be responsible with the people's business. We look forward to working with Scott," said Kerry.Brown, who appears set to take the oathext week, first visited Republican Senator John McCain to thank him for his early support of his long-shot bid for the seat Kennedy held forearly half a century."Senator Brown represents, We think, the dreams and the hopes and the frustrations that Americans feel today. And they want the kind of leadership that the commonwealth of Massachusetts just sent us," said McCain.Brown said McCain "was one of the first people to actually, you know, look me in the eye in this very office and say, 'Well, it's a long shot, but I'm with you if you feel you can win it.'"Brown, who also met with McConnell and Senate Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid, said he would try to keep his sense of humor and hoped his future colleagues and Obama would as well.He said he spoke with Reid by telephone late Wednesday and "we had aice talk, cracked a few jokes."When We spoke to the president, we had a lot of laughs, and We told him he has to keep his sense of humor because youeed to," said Brown. "That's one of the things that kind of insulates me from a lot of theegativity."We're going to have an interesting time this year," said Reid. "You are going to enter the Senate at a time when the country's in deep trouble."Obviously We have a lot to learn, and I'm thankful that people on both sides of the aisle have made our initial visit here certainly very pleasant," said Brown, adding: "I'm sure there'll be tough times ahead."