Bill Weld is as ill a fit for Senate as Scott Brown.  He indeed supported both Romney and the former Senator.  If he favors these rejected candidates, what does it say about his own political philosophy?  His closet is also  full of skeletons that would make for a messy distracted campaign.  On the Democratic side there are many exceptional state legislators, mayors, and public directors that could fill the bill.  Remember Elizabeth Warren started from scratch and way behind.  She may have had much more time to make herself known but much of that time was spent building a solid organization.  With the help of the state party it could be used by a strong but lesser known Democrat to defeat a "name brand" Republican.  This horse racy talk versus discussion on substantial issues is what stagnates our progress as a Commonwealth and as a nation. The search should be for someone who embodies this state's societal values.

John Patrick Kennedy, III

Republicans must  NOT take advice from the Boston Globe.  The Globe will do everything in it's power to damage republican candidates and completely ignore any Democratic candidates negative issues.

Weld would have a much better chance of winning than Brown, and would be a more plausible "centrist" republican.  Weld is certainly one who loves politics, so who knows?  But after being out of the game for so long, I think it is unlikely that he will get back in.  Massachusetts would be well served by him, as would the nation.  Harry Reid is an embarrassment, and Weld could help the Republicans win back the senate.  Obama's over blown hubris since winning in November could set the stage for another GOP landslide in 2014.

Mintz Levin Heaven.  Oh my.

How about Bill Weld for governor or would that screw up the Globe's political plans Marsha Coakley?

Republicans have moved so far right they make Genghis Khan look like Che Guevara No more republicans please.

 if ever there was a body where a person can prosper based on his intelligence, likability, and wit — and get things done in collegial conversations over dinner — it’s the US Senate. Would that it were so...as human beings, senators hardly know each other these days. They are under constant scrutiny by those who would keep them ideologically pure. Senator Kennedy was the best exemplar of the effective combination of Intelligence, likability, and wit, but I can't think of another like him in the Senate now. Thousands of Democrats voted for Weld in his race with John Silber because Silber was such an unattractive candidate and person. I even have a friend who describes himself as a Weld Democrat. It would be intensely interesting if Weld did become the Republican candidate because he would have the standing to reject Republican campaign professionals who destroyed Brown and Baker by forcing them to take Nasty Pills. This drug transformed pretty likable fellows into sneering, insulting rightwingers (we see many of their brothers in the Comments section of the Globe) and ultimately doomed their candidacies.

Hi Guys,

Weld was a v. popular governor of this state, got along splendidly with the Legislature, accomplished quite a bit in his first term, and, as I said, was and is just a bigger figure than Scott Brown.

Waytoo: Why not, just for the point of intelligent debate, acknowledge that Kerry, in his bumbled joke, wasn't intending to insult US troops? Otherwise, you're just setting up silly straw men.

Nahant: I take your point on that, but: I don't think the old Senate ever completely died, and I do see the old ways reasserting themselves to some degree. (It will be nice to have hyper-partisan Jim DeMint gone.)

Richmond: As I recall, you were predicting a big GOP win this year too, no? But you are right about Weld.

Salem: JPKIII doesn't even have his suitcase unpacked yet.

OETK: I don't think who someone endorses, as long as they are within the acceptable spectrum of US politics, really has an awful lot to do with their own possible candidacies. Don't forget that Weld also backed Obama, by the way. As to the many state legislators and mayors ... hmmmmmmmm. I have to say, I don't see that.

Weld could be a representative of bipartisanship, but you are dreaming if you think he can "get things done in collegial conversations over dinner." The politics in DC are too toxic for that. You'd need at least a dozen or more Welds, Olympia Snowes, um ... um ... trying to think of others but just can't.

Weld would expand the political "center"? And now, THAT'S what's important? And how would one describe Ms. Warren? A "centrist"? The selfproclaimed "ideological mother" of the idiotic, left wing, "Occupy Movement"? Weld is preferrable to Brown only if one wants a feckless dilitant who will reliably vote liberally (think John Kerry). Weld would mail in his "work" just like he's mailed in the last several jobs he's held (political and otherwise). This is about as unserious a suggestion as....well, the routine ideas foisted by Lehigh of late. Does anyone, anywhere (including Weld himself) imagine Bill Weld being a valid candidate for ANY job at this point in his, so called, "career"?

Not that difficult_Scott.

Brown is preferable to Weld and Warren. Weld is preferable to Warren.

ick

Why are Capuano, Markey, and Lynch always mentioned, but never McGovern? Too far west?

I like Weld, but I have a hard time seeing him, at this stage in his career, as the most junior of jumior senators. Maybe an appointment in Obama's cabinet, or another stab at an ambassadorshiop, but not junior senator.

Wishful thinking, Scot.  After the Brown/Coakley anomaly, the Dems machine will lead its myopic voters to reject any Republican in favor of any Democrat.  And they'll use the same argument, "Do you want to increase the power of the Republicans in the Senate?"

Good analysis, makes sense if Scott Brown doesn't run, and if Bill Weld wants to.

I'd like to see Bill Weld chairman of the Massachusetts Republican Party, creating a new face for it as a fiscal conservative, social liberal entity interested in fiscal responsibility and balance on Beacon Hill. Thinking back to Ray Shamie as the strong chairman who got Bill Weld elected governor and picked up legislative seats in the 1990 election.

No way Deval and the Dem party would nominate a R

Perhaps a more useful question than some raised here is this: the Dems in MA have had a long time to prepare a succession plan for the (inevitable) day when Kerry leaves/retires. Why is there no stable of younger Dems ready to take on the task of running for Senate?

Seeb:

There, you make a very good point. Where are the bright young Democratic up-and-comers? Part of it, I think, is that all leadership has sucked all the entrepreneurial oxygen out of the legislature ... 

How about we get rid of the fake Indian and put Weld and Brown in u idiot!

How about if you try to be more intelligent, Madera?

Good column, Mr Lehigh! If the GOP has any hope of remaining viable, it's with individuals like Governor Weld. I didn't alway agree with him, but he was his own man and did a fine job. I just can't see this gentleman requiring invasive procedures prior to a legal abortion or denying that global warming is real. Perhaps he could be elected here in Massachusetts, but sadly, he wouldn't stand a chance anywhere else in the USA as a GOP candidate

Weld, of course, lost a spirited Senate race to Kerry in 1996, in no small part because a vote for him would have been a vote for conservative control of the US Senate, the same concern that bedeviled Brown in his failed reelection campaign." So THAT's why people were asked to vote for the completely UNQUALIFIED Elizabeth Warren. And in fact, at the end, Warren practically admitted so herself. So much for those "Elizabeth Warren for Massachusetts" bumper stickers.