Mitt Romney to back Scott Brown for Senate in New Hampshire

Scott Brown is about to get some help in his bid to become a New Hampshire senator from Mitt Romney, one of the Granite State's favorite adopted sons.

CNN reports Romney will formally endorse Brown — an ex-senator from Massachusetts — next week in his bid to become the GOP nominee to take on Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen in New Hampshire.

Romney, a former Massachusetts governor who has a vacation home in New Hampshire, is popular in the Granite State. Despite his repeated protests that he's not interested in another White House bid, Romney is the top choice for president in 2016 among New Hampshire's GOP voters.

The 2012 GOP presidential nominee has been lending a hand to several of his party's Senate candidates this year, campaigning in Iowa with Joni Ernst and endorsing Monica Wehby in Oregon.

Polls show Shaheen leading Brown by an average of 8.6 percentage points, according to RealClearPolitics.