Ayla Brown is Boston's only American Idol hope this year, and the 17 year old has the machinery of local politics churning in her favor. Ayla's father is State Senator Scott Brown and Scott's pal and political supporter, Massachusetts Federation of Young Republicans chair Karl Burns, is organizing a grassroots campaign to keep Ayla on the show. From cellphone enabled Idol-watching bar parties to Craigslist, Karl is shaking hands and kissing babies for Ayla.

Meanwhile, her dad has come out to deny a rumor that apparantly never existed. Don't worry, he says, Ayla's involvement in the all-too-popular TV show won't jeopardize his re-election bid or his spot on the short list as a potential running mate to Gubernatorial candidate Kerry Healey. It's being floated by the Globe and the Herald that as early as Thursday, Ayla may be voted off Idol, which would free Scott up to announce his candidacy and devote his full attention to it. We imagine that if she's a well-liked contestant, her dad could benefit from a little name recognition, but how will he handle being upstaged by his teenaged daughter?

Ayla's MySpace Profile has been set to private in what appears to be an information-control move, leading us to wonder exactly what is being hidden from the public. Could she be a reckless party girl? Or a hopeless nerd? Somehow we don't think either is the case.

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