Lacking votes on a jobs bill, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is reaching out to the man who cost Democrats their 60-vote supermajority: Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown.

Reid has been making calls to Republicans throughout this recess week in hopes of building bipartisan support for a seriously scaled-back jobs bill, and even though the GOP has heralded Brown as “Mr. 41” — the key to blocking the Democratic agenda — Reid clearly believes Brown is gettable on this issue.

Reid has been “making some phone calls to Republicans trying to see if they’ll support it,” spokesman Jim Manley said in a Wednesday afternoon interview.

"Putting Americans back to work is Senator Brown’s main legislative priority,” said Brown spokesman Colin Reed. “He looks forward to working with members of both political parties to craft bi-partisan legislation that will create jobs, help the state of Massachusetts and get our economy back on track.”

Manley confirmed that Brown is among the handful of Republicans Reid has called, but he wouldn’t name others.

The wooing of Brown is rife with irony. [snip]

But Reid believes Brown may be open to bipartisan negotiations on jobs legislation.

[snip]

It’s not certain, though, that all Democrats will vote for the bill. Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) criticized Reid’s bill last Friday for not going far enough. Moderate Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) sent a letter to Reid Tuesday calling on him to do more to support tax relief for small businesses.

Reid killed a carefully negotiated, bipartisan compromise that had been put together by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) last Thursday to introduce a simplified $15 billion version, which he says is a first step in a larger jobs agenda.