Now that the funeral services for the late Senator Edward Kennedy are over, the scramble to succeed him in the US Senate has begun in earnest, as we all knew it would.In Massachusetts, in general, and in Boston, in particular, politics is known as a full-contact sport. They don’t waste any time moving on no matter what the circumstances, even the passing of a native son, Ted Kennedy, a 47 year veteran of the US Senate.

The Massachusetts house has already started the process to change state election laws to allow the governor to name an interim replacement, and the governor has already set January 19 as the special election date to fill the remaining three years of Mr. Kennedy’s six year term. In addition, Secretary of State, William Galvin announced the primary election would be held on December 8.

These two dates would effectively ensure that neither the primary nor the special election would be held too close to the Christmas or New Year’s holidays.In fact, the same Massachusetts house had changed the law in 2004 to its current status to effectively prevent the then sitting Governor, Republican Mitt Romney, from appointing a fellow Republican to fill Sen. John Kerry’s seat, a Democrat, if he had been successful in his run for the presidency that fall. Since he was unsuccessful, the change in the law had no effect, until now.

The Massachusetts house democrats were not willing to take the chance that Romney could do this. Curiously, Romney himself was running for the GOP’s nomination for president in 2004, as well.Initially, political observers expected either Kennedy’s widow, Victoria Reggie Kennedy, or the senator’s nephew, former 6-term congressman, Joseph Kennedy II, would be interested in the interim seat, but now Vicki Kennedy has already decided not to pursue the seat.

One interesting aspect of this interim post, a position for about five months until the date of the special election, is that Governor Deval Patrick is requiring that the interim appointee pledge to him not to run for the seat. It would be a temporary position only, and politicians don’t really care for that word. At the present time, with Kennedy’s death, Senate Democrats have 59 votes, and this is one shy of the 60 votes necessary to prevent a possible Republican filibuster on the upcoming health care legislation soon to be discussed and debated on the floor.At the same time, however, there is a long list of possible Democrats who would be interested in running for the seat in the special election.

They include state Attorney General Martha Coakley; US Rep. James McGovern, D-Worcester, US Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Boston; US Rep. Michael Capuano, D-Somerville; US Rep. Edward Markey, D-Malden; and former US Rep. Martin Meehan, now a college chancellor of UMASS-Lowell.On the Republican side, former Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey, (under Mitt Romney), and former Gov. Jane Swift are both reportedly interested in running for the seat. And there may others, from either party.Meanwhile, house leaders at the statehouse have already taken the first step to change the law to again allow an interim replacement by scheduling a public hearing on Sept. 9 on a bill to implement Kennedy’s own request for it to be done.

The proposed change already has the support of Gov. Patrick who is putting together a list of potential interim appointees.As expected, many Republicans have criticized the proposal for an interim appointment arguing that the democrats want to make changes ‘based in politics, rather than what is good for the commonwealth.’ After all, why shouldn’t the law they passed in 2004 stillbe the law in 2009? What’s different about 2009?What’s different is that the sitting governor in Massachusetts, Deval Patrick, is a democrat, and they know that he’ll appoint another democrat to the position, thus assuring the democrats that filibuster-proof 60 vote majority in the senate.Welcome to the world of Massachusetts party politics!Gov. Patrick, however, said, “Massachusetts should be fully represented in the United States Senate when they will begin the debate this fall of historic issues before the nation such as health care reform, jobs, climate change, and education.”

The whole argument is centered around the above mentioned democrats’ 60 vote majority in the US Senate needed to prevent Republicans from taking action to block legislation, most likely health-care reform. This and other political issues are on the daily menu for Boston’s local channels, ABC, NBC, CBS, and can be seen on Dish Network.Recalling the words of Ted’s youngest son, Patrick Kennedy, US Rep., D-Rhode Island, at his funeral when jokingly referring to the rules of sailing in a regatta on Cape Cod, “Dad’s idea was to change the rules, or make new rules, if you don’t like the existing ones.”Well, it seems like Teddy continues to keep a hand on politics in Massachusetts, like he always did, even after he’s gone.

By: Frank Bilotta

About the Author:

Frank helps people learn about Dish Network Satellite TV, and how they can save money every month with popular Dish Network Packages. Dish has advanced, award winning, Dish DVR and Dish HD receivers, there is a lot of good news to share and also help people determine if satellite internet is right.

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