U.S. Sen. Scott Brown got invited to the "Tea Party" and sent his wary regards: Thanks but no thanks, said he. Said that he was too busy on Tea Party Rally day, pre- April 15th, and will be in Washington working.

The senator wants to stay in the Senate, and he knows who really got him there, other than over-confident Democrats. Not Sarah Palin, the darling of the Tea Party, who is coming to the Boston Commons on Wednesday for a Tea Party rally, not the Tea Party, though members provided boots on the ground that helped. It was former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, his aides, and his organization that did more than anyone, other than Mr. Brown, to get that Senate seat win. Old Mitt is not about to let his golden boy share the stage with Palin, a possible 2012 rival for the GOP nod.

Some wags are saying that Brown knows the Democrats in Massachusetts as well as anybody, and knows that they won't be caught coasting in 2012, when his seat is up for re-election. 2012 is a Presidential election year and he can expect a full court press from the state's Democrats.

Massachusetts isn't a crazy state where certifiable cuckoos do well. To win a state-wide election, standing with a bunch of wing nut jobs won't work. Mr. Brown knows that if he wants to win in 2012, he must get and keep his feet in the middle.