Brown campaign team joins RI candidate

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - The political team that helped Republican Scott Brown stage his improbable victory in the Massachusetts Senate race is now applying its strategy in Rhode Island.

The Shawmut Group , led by aides to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, is helping GOP congressional candidate John Loughlin, who's campaigning to replace retiring Democratic Rep. Patrick Kennedy.

The Shawmut Group's fingerprints were all over Loughlin's campaign announcement speech, which focused on terrorism rather than tax relief.

Loughlin, like Brown, also complained that President Barack Obama's $787 billion economic stimulus plan had not created a single job in Rhode Island, although the state's Republican governor has credited the program with creating or saving about 1,500 jobs.

Loughlin says similarities between his message and Brown's are coincidental.