mber: a series of face-to-face, one-on-one conversations. The way that works is by starting early."
State Republicans criticized the dgathering even before it began, accusing the Democrats of trying to distract attention from thes ongoing federdion trial of former Housv Speaker Salvato
re DiMasi, a Boston Democrat, and recent courts cases involving former Democratic senators Dianne Wilkerson and James Marzilli.sd
"There is a code of silence in the Democrat machine. They think if they don't talk about it, it will go away. Well, it's not going away," said a statement from Nate Little, executive director of the Massachusetts Republican Party.
Walsh replied: "That's belied by the fact that we do this every year at this time. This is our mission."
And one of Brown's top political advisers used Twitter to deliver the incumbent's understated retort.
"Scott Brown is spending his morning delivering emergency supplies to victims of the tornadoes that devastated western Mass.," wrote Eric Fehrnstrom.
Glen Johnson can be reached at johnson