The Washington Post
makes note of a letter from ailing Sen. Ted Kennedy asking
Massachusetts lawmakers to more rapidly fill his Senate seat
should a vacancy occur. "I strongly support that law and the
principle that the people should elect their senator," Kennedy
wrote in the letter. "I also believe it is vital for this
Commonwealth to have two voices speaking for the needs of its
citizens and two votes in the Senate during the approximately
five months between a vacancy and an election."
Rather unaccountably, the Post doesn't mention why the
state law was changed in 2004 to get rid of interim gubernatorial
appointments: Democrats were afraid that if John Kerry won that
year's presidential election, Mitt Romney would name a Republican
to succeed him in the Senate. Republicans who have been appointed
to countywide elected offices by GOP governors have a decent
track record at the ballot box in the next election, unlike the
sacrificial lambs the Bay State GOP recruits to take on
Democratic incumbents.
Massachusetts has a Democratic governor now, however, so state
Democrats have nothing to fear from an interim senator. And all
the better for Kennedy to influence the selection of his
replacement.
