Scott Brown: 'Do I have the best credentials?'

Scott Brown, the Rye Republican exploring a run for U.S. Senate in New Hampshire, created yet more buzz with comments to The Associated Press in a story about his new residency in New Hampshire.

The quote to the AP's Steve Peoples that has people talking is this:

"Do I have the best credentials? Probably not. 'Cause, you know, whatever. But I have long and strong ties to this state."

Brown, a former state senator and U.S. Senator from Wrentham, Mass., points to New Hampshire roots going back nine generations. An excellent PolitiFact feature late last year chronicled those long ancestral ties and came to a "half true" conclusion on a statement that Brown and his mother are "from New Hampshire." (He lived for a short time in Portsmouth, before moving to Massachusetts, where he grew up.)

The residency issue will likely come again, and again, and from some of the Republicans officially in the race to challenge U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-NH. The big question: Is it such a big deal, or a make-or-break issue, when so many neighbors in New Hampshire are Massachusetts transplants?