Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown is lending some help to fellow Republican U.S. Senate hopeful Dino Rossi at a Bellevue fundraiser Tuesday night.

Brown became a national Republican star in January when he pulled off the seemingly impossible feat of taking Ted Kennedy's former Senate seat.

Rossi could enter the GOP-star constellation himself in November if he pulls off an upset over Democratic incumbent Sen. Patty Murray.

Brown's win made him the 41st Republican in the Senate, removing the Democrats' filibuster-proof majority. Rossi has promoted himself as a possible 51st vote if Republicans manage to win a Senate majority back in November.

In a brief question session with reporters at the Bellevue Westin Hotel, Brown stood by Rossi for TV cameras and hailed him as an "open minded, independent" addition to the Senate.

"Being a new guy in Washington, we need other people who are going to look out for people's wallets and pocketbooks and focus on the debt and the spending and the taxation," Brown said. "It would be nice to have him there beside me."

Of course, Brown has diverged from Rossi on one major issue in recent months: He joined Democrats and voted for the financial regulation bill that Rossi opposed as a job killer.

Brown brushed off the disagreement as natural for politicians from different states.

"We're not going to agree on everything. I certainly hope not," he said.

Brown said his state has the second largest financial services sector in the country -- so it was natural that he'd get involved and try to shape the bill.

Brown said he didn't think the bill was perfect -- it didn't include reforms to Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac, for example. But, he said, "does that mean we do nothing?"

"I felt the rules and regulations needed to be upgraded and looked at, some of them
hadn't been changed in 50 years," Brown said. "The fact that I got involved and others got involved made it a better bill."

He said the big problem in Washington, D.C., is that no one is paying attention to the needs of "ordinary Americans," pointing to a national debt that has risen by more than $1 trillion in just the several months he's been in office.

Brown also jabbed at Democrats' efforts to pass a $30 billion small business lending fund -- a priority Murray has highlighted in several recent media events. Democrats have hit Republicans for blocking the bill.

But Brown said the GOP would be happy to agree to a vote, if they were allowed to "be a part of the amendment process."

"They're just trying to get ready for a commercial in November," Brown said. "They don't want to have a true bipartisanship."

Tuesday's fundraiser (which was closed to the media) was expected to draw more than 350 people, according to Rossi spokeswoman Jennifer Morris.

She didn't have an immediate estimate on the money the event is expected to raise. (I'll post an update when that info is available.)