Turns out Scott Brown had a lot of Republican help in his campaign over the last couple of weeks. But to maintain his independence, the NSRC and the RNC kept really quiet about what they were doing. Ed Morrissey:

This was a brilliant move by both the NRSC and the RNC. They didn’t fall into a Democratic trap by trumpeting their involvement with Brown, who wanted to show as much independence as possible. Coakley and Obama spent Sunday making Brown look like a tool of the Tea Party movement and the GOP national machine, but it was Coakley getting bailed out by Democratic heavyweights from outside Massachusetts.

Morrissey also points a lesson that both groups need to remember during this election season:

On the other hand, this shows the limitation of national Republican help, especially in deep-blue constituencies. Voters don’t want a top-down presence from committees like the RNC and the NRSC; they want to choose their own candidates locally through an active primary process and have support for their choices.

Michael Steele has been an embattled chief of the RNC since he was elected to that position, and he’s taken a lot of heat. Much of it was very deserved. The NRSC has had its own issues by putting out who its going to support before a primary has happened. We’ve seen this in Florida in the battle there between conservative Republican Marco Rubio and RINO Charlie Crist, with the NRSC supporting the latter; the NRSC needs to butt out and let the people make the choices, then the group can come in with money and support.

They did really well with Brown, regardless of how the election turns out today (please let it be Brown, please oh please oh please oh please). Kudos to both.