The Boston Globe

Metro

Many potential candidates if Mass. gets new Senate race

The confetti has barely been swept off the floor, but Massachusetts could be headed for yet another Senate race.

Just days after the end of a grueling campaign, potential candidates are quietly scrambling to position themselves to run for Senator John F. Kerry’s seat if President Obama appoints Kerry to be his next secretary of state, or secretary of defense.

Comments

Congressman Jim McGovern is head and shoulders above anyone else in the MA Congreesional delegation. And woulodn't it be great to actually support and vote FOR a candidate rather than against a candidate! McGovern would be an outstanding US Senate choice...he is everything we say we want in our elected officials, but rarely get the opportunity to have.

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Who is Congressman Jim McGovern and where is he from?

If McGovern wins, send your tunics to the cleaners.

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I would vote for anyone before another chapter of Mr. Brown goes to Washington.  He is a disgusting sleazeball.

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A well thought out, reasoned, articulate response. Typical of the Mass Democrat.

Scott Brown won't be appointed to the seat by a Democratic governor, nor would he likely take the appointment under the condition he couldn't run for the office.


Brown's best and easiest path to victory and a seat, is to run as an independent, which would be good for the Senate and our country.  If he runs as a "Republican", then we will all see that he's not so "independent-minded" after all.


The rest of the names in the article like our incumbent Congressmen or former Governor Weld, are just too old and out of touch with what is going on in America today.  The last thing that one of the country's homes of innovation needs is a Senator in his 60's or older.

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Patrick is so clueless that it would not surprise anyone if he appointed himself to the Senate.

p.s. Look up the medium age - or the ages of the present Senate members?

"Justice Scalia!"

More talk like this and our estimable middle-aged white trade union leaders won't be able to put their pants on in the morning.

Shouldn't Governor Patrick appoint that nice young Congressman-to-be, Joe Kennedy III to the position? After all, he's older than his uncle Ted was when he became a senator, and has at least as much experience. And remember what a good job Teddy did for Massachusetts and the country. Further, Joe III has at least as much, if not more, trial experience than John Kerry had when he became Senator. True, Joe lack's Kerry's heroic war record, but outside Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Napoleon, and Jack Kennedy, doesn't everyone? Besides, if Patrick appoints young Joe, the latter can actually develop some experience as a senator before the 2014 elections (experience only matters if you are not a "progressive" Democrat). Maybe young Joe III could sign on as a co-sponsor to some very important legislation (we can never have enough legislation) and undertake some high-profile fact-finding trips abroad to meet with World Leaders in Trouble Spots. Why, by 2014 young Joe III will, in the eyes of the Globe and Harvard, be an "experienced" senator and a shoo-in for election to a full six-year term. And Joe has certainly shown that he can win elections, even running from districts in which he has only recently resided. And the Kennedy name is still powerful among Democrats in Washington. He would have far more access that other first-term senators. Just think of what he could do for Massachusetts.

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JUst like Dubyah!

Given the results of the last election, and the amount of power in the hands of a single party, doesn't it make sense that Patrick has enough clout to appoint himself to the position, and become that second "rubber stamp" for the Obama administration. I might hurt his chances at a run for the White House in a few years by bypassing the electoral process with a certain set of voters, but that's ways off and it's all about winning. And in future elections, as we have become aware, that may mean candidates need to have broad appeal, and pull in certain demographics to have a fighting chance.

If Patrick declines this opportunity, then I second the nomination of that Kennedy - whatever his full first name is. It is time to return the people's seat back to the family where it so rightfully belongs.

   

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this has to be one of the stupidest posts recently ... get over your post-election grief, pal.  if not, you may have trouble getting to sleep at night.  never know what is under your bed.  

 

Ya, there might be a Democrat under there!

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What's to stop Kerry from deferring acceptance of a post until after the special election to replace him? That bypasses the issue of appointing an interim Senator altogether.

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Hillary will not continue and Kerry is chomping at the bit for her job. Kerry won't defer acceptance.

True, if Kerry is nominated Secretary of State, but the story is that Secretary of Defense is the post that may be offered. It looks to be a messy January and February in Washington, D. C.

No Democratic women??? She (generic candidate) would be formidable. Scott Brown--I'd suggest should be a non starter (hopefully for his sake) but he would be a wonderful loser to whomever is nominated by the D-Party. The media might want to go back in time agaign and realize that in reality the D nomination winner IS tantamount to becoming US Seantor.

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This sentence should have read: "Michael E. Capuano of Somerville, who ran second to Martha Coakley in the 2009 Senate primary, and who would absolutely have mopped the floor with Scott Brown in the general..."

Mike Capuano