Scott Brown given perfect excuse to cancel debate

Brown won't have to face this nightmare again. Sen. Scott Brown tried hard to dodge his first debate against Elizabeth Warren, citing the need to stay in D.C. for critical votes, but Harry Reid foiled his plans by canceling votes. Mother Nature is more generous to Brown, who has a sure-fire excuse for avoiding a final meeting with Warren, which was scheduled for tomorrow night. And he's trying to sound noble about it.

"The Scott Brown campaign today announced that out of concern for the hardship faced by people in the path of Hurricane Sandy that he will not be participating in tomorrow's fourth and final debate," campaign spokesman Colin Reed said in a press release. "It is simply not appropriate to go forward with a political debate when a disaster strikes. The focus for all of us before, during and after the storm needs to be on emergency response and disaster relief, not campaigns and politics."

Never mind that the debate's sponsors were already considering pulling the plug on the debate because of the storm. Brown got there first. It's got to be a huge relief for him, since he's not been able to distinguish himself in debates. He's also been able to lay low for a couple of weeks, putting some distance between him and the self-inflicted disaster he had week before last.

On the other hand, he also won't have the opportunity to finally stop the slide he's been in the last few weeks. That tells you right there how little confidence the Brown campaign now has.

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3:10 PM PT: The Warren campaign concurs. In a straightforward statement just emailed, they say:

"Elizabeth believes the focus now must be on public safety and ensuring people get the help they need during the storm and in its aftermath. With the concern for public safety and cleanup paramount, Elizabeth believes  the debate should not be held tomorrow."