BLITZER: There it is. Scott Brown is now the 41th -- 41st Republican senator in the United States Senate. A very significant moment -- the vice president swearing him in. He's getting a nice round of applause from his colleagues. Joe Biden, as you know, as vice president, is the president of the Senate.
This is an important moment -- the difference of one Senate vote critical given the rules of the U.S. Senate -- the difference between 59 Democrats and 60 Democrats is enormous. Here's part -- more of this ceremonial moment that we're watching right now.
Let's talk a little bit about what we're seeing.
Joining us, our senior political analyst, Gloria Borger; and David Gergen and Ben Stein of "Fortune" magazine -- as we watch these pictures, David, you live up there in Massachusetts.
He's a pretty impressive guy, isn't he?
DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST, FORMER PRESIDENTIAL ADVISER: He certainly is. And I -- I must say, he ran an excellent campaign. And he's become, perhaps, even more popular since then. He's become sort of a celebrity figure around the country. You know, there's one national survey out now that shows that if he were to run against President Obama, it would be a -- it would be a dead heat. I mean, I don't think he has any ambitions to do that, frankly, nor is he ready.
But I think it -- it illustrates both the president's current weakness and Scott Brown's sudden burst into celebrity hood. And, for the most part, yes, you know, people can snipe at him for one thing or another. I think he's handled himself graciously.
This was sped up, I was told yesterday by someone close to Scott Brown, because there was a fear on the part of the Republicans that the Democrats were going to try to push through the nomination of someone to be chair of the National Labor Relations Board and they thought that this fellow, Craig Becker, they accused him -- the Republicans did -- of -- of someone who was going to try to rewrite the law to allow card check by executive order, in effect. And were trying to block that.
So I think that accounted for the -- for the speedup, if he were -- would in the -- so that he was sworn in today and not next week.
And it's hard to believe -- it -- it's still hard to believe -- and, Gloria, you can weigh in on this -- that Ted Kennedy's Senate seat...
GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Right.
BLITZER: ...is now being held by a Republican.
BORGER: Yes, it is. It's a -- it's a different world and it's -- it's hard to believe. As I was watching Joe Biden, who was so close to Ted Kennedy, I'm sure Joe Biden didn't think, Wolf, that he was going to be swearing-in a Republican senator here.
But what -- what he did -- what Scott Brown did so well was really tap into those Independent voters. And while we think of Massachusetts as the bluest of blue states, the truth of the matter is that self-identified Independents are the largest group of voters in that state right now -- about 53 percent.
And so I think that while Republicans may depend on him for certain votes in the Senate, he is much more liberal on social issues. He's conservative fiscally. And he's not always going to be a dependable Republican vote for them.
BLITZER: Yes. He's very liberal on a lot of these social issues, Ben. He supports gay marriage, which is the law in Massachusetts. He says that's established right now. He supports a women's right to have an abortion. And the law in Massachusetts, which provides nearly universal health insurance, he supports that, as well.
BEN STEIN, COLUMNIST, "FORTUNE": He supports them, but he says they've had terrible problems with it and it should not be a guide to national policy.
But what it really proves is that life is like high school. All life is like high school.
(LAUGHTER)
STEIN: Here's a guy, he's modest, he's athletic, he's great looking, he's a solid guy. He's the kind of guy you'd want as your best friend or your fraternity brother. And so he wins the election against a kind of a schoolmarmish opponent. And he, as a guy...
BORGER: A woman?
Are you saying life is like high school...
STEIN: Yes...
BORGER: ...the handsome guy walks in the room and the woman is sort of left to...
STEIN: I think so.
BORGER: Ah...
STEIN: ...the schoolmarm... BORGER: Don't say that.
STEIN: ...the schoolmarm is sort of blown out of the room.
But here's a guy who you would want to have as your friend, you'd want to have him in your foxhole. He is a likable guy and that's what life is about.
BLITZER: All right. You remember high school in Silver Spring, Maryland.
STEIN: Yes. Yes, I certainly do.
(LAUGHTER)
BLITZER: All of us remember high school.
STEIN: Yes.
BLITZER: And all of us remember the guys like Scott Brown, who were very popular...
STEIN: The guys with cheerleaders.
BLITZER: ...good athletes, got the cheerleaders and had a lot of fun.
All right, guys. Stand by for a moment.
David, we're going to continue this conversation.
We have a lot more discuss beyond high school.
Scott Brown becomes United States Senator Scott Brown. He's the newest senator from Massachusetts.