Update: He made it! You can watch here.

Original: Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown has a very important date tonight. He's supposed to have his first debate with challenger Elizabeth Warren at 7 p.m. in Boston, but, as with every wacky romantic comedy, there's an obstacle in the way: the United States Senate. Brown is in Washington, waiting to finish voting on a continuing resolution to fund the government for another six months. If Brown can't catch his 4:30 p.m. flight back, he's going to miss the debate, the Boston Globe's Bobby Caina Calvan reports. "Bottom line is, people have sent me down here -- and that’s to vote," Brown said. And they need him to vote! Or do they?

It depends on how you define "need." On Wednesday, the continuing resolution easily made it through on a procedural vote, 76 to 22. It does not appear there's any danger that it won't pass, and it was expected to move quickly through Congress, because, as The Hill explains, both sides worked out a deal before they left for August recess. But Brown says he's previously missed a single vote, because of a flight delay. Missing a debate, though, might not be so bad, given that Brown has had some struggles in responding to questions about Mitt Romney and the "47 percent." Brown told the Globe, "I’m sure if we don’t make [the debate] tonight, we’ll reschedule it for Monday or something."

Luckily, there's a happy resolution to the dilemma. After Brown made his concerns public, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced there will be no more votes today, so Brown can go meet Warren after all—assuming there are no flight delays.

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Elspeth Reeve