I think this TNR piece about Scott Brown does a good job exploring the truck-driving Massachusetts Senator's appeal, but I think the notion that Brown represents any sort of strategy for Republicans is wrong. That Brown is as right-wing as possible without alienating the center isn't cutting-edge Republican politics, so much as the natural posture of Republicans (and quite a few Democrats, albeit from the left). And while Brown's general cluelessness toward policy might indeed help toward making Brown more relatable toward his constituents, I think that Brown's appeal really is sui generis in that I don't think that someone without his looks, charisma, common touch, etc., but with the same cluelessness and political views would have ever had a chance to win.
Ultimately, though, while Brown's milieu seems to be serving him well at this point I think he'll run into significant problems in the next year or two. If he has to run on a Palin-fronted or Romney-fronted ticket in 2012 he's going to be squeezed just like, say, former Rep. Chris Shays (R-CT). Northern Republicans and Southern Democrats tend to do well in years where the other party is in power, but fundamentally the tribal elements of our politics are inescapable.
