The truck-driving Republican from Wrentham finally made it to the Capitol last week, and he got right down to business. On Thursday, newly elected U.S. Sen. Scott Brown arrived for his swearing-in ceremony in the manner to which he has become accustomed: amid a scrum of reporters and photographers outside the Russell Building in Washington, D.C.

Brown - once considered the longest of longshots - was elected in the Jan. 19 special election to fill the seat held for decades by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, taking over for interim senator Paul Kirk, a longtime friend of the late senator.