If Republicans are eager to pass on the higher-profile Brown given his foibles, they will have at least one alternative in Republican Selectman Bob Burr of Canton, MA.
Second, following former Rep. Kennedy’s withdrawal, the seniormost member of the Massachusetts Congressional delegation, Congressman Edward Markey, put out a statement heavy on his experience:
“Joe Kennedy is my friend. I believe he would have been a great senator for Massachusetts and I respect the difficult decision he and his family have made. I know that Joe will continue his lifelong commitment as a phenomenal champion for the poorest in our society,” he said Monday.
“As the most senior member of the Massachusetts and New England House Delegations and as the Chairman of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, I now must weigh where I can make the greatest impact on the issues facing the people of Massachusetts.”
Politico reminds us that Congressman Markey seemed to be itching to run for Senate in 2004 had Senator John Kerry won the Presidency – but that was when Republicans ruled the House. Half a decade later, now that Rep. Markey enjoys a powerful Chairmanship and increased influence in the Democratic-majority House, will the 63-year-old want to give that up for a Senate seat? We’ll see.
Third, Democratic state Attorney General Martha Coakley, the only fully-announced candidate in the special election, seems to be enjoying a noticeably positive early reaction:
Her supporters lined city intersections for two blocks around the Greater Boston Labor Council breakfast on Monday, a sign of the Democrat’s early organizational advantage in the race to succeed the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy.
Coakley said in an interview the response to her candidacy since announcing last Thursday has been “overwhelming.”
In such a condensed primary season, an early organizational advantage is even more valuable than an early fundraising advantage.
Fourth, in one of his first public appearances after taking steps toward a run in the special election – a Labor Day health care rally yesterday – Congressman Stephen Lynch, Massachusetts’ all-Democratic Congressional delegation’s most conservative member, is booed mercilessly. While Lynch holds sway with Massachusetts’ labor community, he does not receive much love from the liberal activists that will have a significant hand in determining the winner of the Democratic primary on December 8th. Here’s the Boston Globe’s take:
A parade of politicians, labor leaders, and workers addressed the crowd yesterday at Parkman Bandstand on the Common, including Attorney General Martha Coakley, who formally launched her campaign last week to fill the US Senate seat vacated by the death of Edward M. Kennedy.
“This is a frontier that cannot wait,” Coakley said, vowing to pick up where Kennedy left off. “We need health care for everyone.”
The crowd’s loudest roar came when the Democrat threw her support behind a public, or government-run, insurance option, which she said “will give us the competition and the choice we need to make sure we have good coverage for everyone.”
The rally crowd was not so kind to US Representative Stephen Lynch, a South Boston Democrat who is strongly considering a run for Kennedy’s seat. Boos drowned out Lynch’s speech, though he said he is 100 percent in favor of reform.
“He’s in favor of health care reform but not in favor of the public option, and that’s the difference between the sheep and the wolves,” said Bill Wasserman, 82, of Ipswich.
Lynch has expressed skepticism about the hefty price tag of the Democrats’ proposed health care overhaul, and labor unions have viewed this as a sign of opposition to a public option.
US Representative Michael Capuano of Somerville, another Democrat considering a run for Senate, may have launched an early salvo at Lynch when he said that health care reform “will be a major test to see who actually walks the walk and who actually talks it.”
Congressman Capuano seems ready for a fight. Is he signaling his intentions or simply laying down a marker just in case (not that Capuano has much time to waste)? Stay tuned.
Fifth, a hearing will be held Wednesday in the Massachusetts state Legislature to consider legislation to allow the Governor to make a temporary appointment in the case of a Senate vacancy until a special election can be held. Such legislation would, of course, apply to the current situation and curtail Massachusetts’ lapse in full representation in the U.S. Senate.
Finally, you know how I know that former Major Leaguer Curt Schilling will never be a U.S. Senator from Massachusetts (and likely won’t run in the special election)? He typed the following words:
I believed in Dick Cheney
So there’s that.
UPDATE: Looks like Capuano’s in:
NewsCenter 5 has learned that U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano, a Democrat who picked up Joe Jr.’s former Congressional seat, also intends to run for Kennedy’s seat. He is expected to pick up nomination papers Tuesday and make a formal announcement later in the week.
UPDATE 2: Looks like Meehan’s out:
Meanwhile, former Democratic congressman Martin Meehan, now chancellor of UMass-Lowell, announced he won’t be entering the Senate race today.
“After careful consideration and many conversations with my family and close supporters, I have decided not to run for the U.S. Senate at this time,” Meehan said in a statement. “While I am not ruling out the possibility of seeking public office in the future, I am fortunate to be leading a remarkable university that I love, and I just don’t want to walk away.”
UPDATE 3: Here’s a handy chart:
| Democrats | Republicans | |
| In | State Attorney General Martha Coakley Congressman Stephen Lynch Congressman Michael Capuano |
State Senator Scott Brown Selectman Bob Burr |
| Maybe | Congressman Edward Markey Congressman John Tierney 2008 Senate candidate Ed O’Reilly |
Retired Major Leaguer Curt Schilling* (would have to run as an independent) |
| Out | Congressman Barney Frank Attorney Victoria Reggie Kennedy Former Congressman Joe Kennedy II Former Congressman Martin Meehan Congressman Bill Delahunt |
Former Gov. Mitt Romney Former Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey |
| Unclear / No Comment |
Congressman Jim McGovern | Former U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan Former Bush Chief of Staff Andrew Card Former Governor Paul Cellucci 2008 Senate nominee Jeff Beatty Businessman Chris Egan 2008 Senate candidate Jim Ogonowski |
he wasn’t registered as Republican in time for the cut-off (he’s unenrolled). He could go indie of course, but somehow I doubt he’d be able to put together a staff and finances quickly enough.
Aside from his lacking a sense of humor and inappropriate behaviour in front of minors, is he cut from the moderate cloth, or is a typical wingut who would fall flat in a general election? The only thing that I know about him is that he’s married to Gail Huff from Channel 5.
And don’t want them to be cussed out by an elected official while they are at school.
<
p>That’s probably enough for most people when selecting a representative, but your mileage may vary, as they say.
about civil discourse!
<
p>Mb
I would seriously hope his constituency would vote him out of office after treating kids that way. He seems like a real jerk.
C’mon Bob, if you’re going to gratuitously bash Brown, get the facts straight. Brown read, verbatim, the comments that students had posted about him and his family members, using school computers, on school time. He was making the point that people should be responsible for their statements on the web and that taking shots against family members was out of bounds. A good lesson. Full disclosure, if he runs, I’ll be in his corner supporting him.
I followed the link and read that story too. It’s not quite the way it’s been painted here.
<
p>There are plenty of things to question Scott Brown about, but going off half-cocked (not intended as a pun despite the racy photos) is not necessary and reflects poorly on us.
…he still handled the situation horribly IMO.
…in a situation like that, he’s not really senator material regardless of his party affiliation. Maybe he could be on Dick Cheney’s staff.
and that thing is Scott Brown.
at least for me. I’m not talking about who will win, name recognition, western mass, this is strictly who I like the best. Sorry Martha, I think you are great and have done a great job for MA, but Mike Capuano has my vote.
I mostly like Capuano, but he’s being very noncommittal about the public option. Just today he was quoted as wanting to compromise and claiming that the progressive caucus isn’t very unified. If he wants my vote he’s going to have to do a better job of pushing for real reform.
<
p>I will not support any politician that votes for a health care bill that has an individual mandate without also providing a public option. If that is the compromise that gets brought to a vote (and it looks like it’s either going to be that or mandates and a public option), I hope all the progressives know to vote against it.
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/200…
<
p>Sorry Markey and Lynch.
You’re going to use a single vote taken seven years ago in a very different time and context to shut them out entirely from your consideration?
Anyone who supported the Iraq War doesn’t deserve Kennedy’s seat. Every Senator has a lot of power, I want someone who has shown the judgement that they will use that power wisely.
The seat belongs us, not Ted Kennedy.
<
p>That said, I think the vote in question is a fine metric and I concur with the second half of your statement above.
<
p>Though, I’m leaning Coakley.
I think you’re setting an impossibly high standard here. I’d bet there’s a few votes from Ted Kennedy’s own past that with the hindsight of history would not pass this litmus test either.
That was met by eight out of twelve of Massachusetts’s delegation.
<
p>It was quite obvious to everyone what Bush was going to do. There was no excuse for voting for the war. I realize legislators are going to take votes I disagree with. (All of them supported the Patriot Act, for example) This vote was different though. There was ample debate and discussion and it was quite clear what the result of a yea vote would be. Some in our delegation had the courage and moral fortitude to say no to Bush’s bullshit, others did not. You don’t need to use this as a litmus test yourself, I’m just saying that for me, I don’t want to promote someone who folds like a cheap suit when they get a little pressure from the executive branch. (Or is so ambitious that they’re willing to vote for something they know is wrong if they think it will help them win higher office.) I want someone who will go in there and fight for Massachusetts and for this nation.
Not “a” single vote, THE single vote…
<
p>All votes are not equal, and you’d be hard-pressed to cite another vote on any issue that was as immediately and dramatically life-and-death consequential.
<
p>Folks like to forget the true public environment before Bush decided to invade Iraq:
<
p>* the overwhelming majority of world governments opposed a military invasion, including most of our closest allies, the countries bordering Iraq, and the Kurds in Northen Iraq.
<
p>* the overwhelming majority of our own most experienced and respected military leaders opposed the invasion –from Gen. Merill McPeak to Brent Scowcroft to Gen. Wes Clark to Gen. Anthony Zinni (Bush’s own Middle East envoy).
<
p>* prominent individuals as ideologically diverse as Pope John Paul II, Nelson Mandela, Pat Buchanan, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Robert McNamera, Jimmy Carter, Hans Bethe, Scott Ritter, and Mikhail Gorbachev all opposed a military invasion.
<
p>* peaceful protests opposing the war were some of the largest ever in US history, and extended to nearly every major capitol around the globe.
<
p>In truth, only a tiny minority of elites in DC and London –led by the NeoCons, members of the Bush Administration, and Congressional enablers– forced the war upon the majority in spite of widespread popular opposition and a laughable collection of “evidence” that Saddam possessed WMDs (In former RI Sen. Chaffee’s autobiography, he recounts a special intelligence briefing in which he was shown supposedly “smoking gun” aluminum tubes that were available at the local Ace Hardware).
<
p>Those who voted against the war were right, those who voted for it were wrong. Many of the latter got punk’d out of fear they would be labeled “weak” (cough-cough John Kerry cough). Few tests have ever revealed the true leadership and character of a sitting member of Congress than that singular vote.
<
p>BTW — I believe Sen. Kennedy called his vote against the Iraq invasion the “proudest vote of his career.”
Says the State House News Service:
<
p>
–Mb
…that if he’s the nominee we could embarrass him in his own district? I figure if he shows weakly there it would soften him up for a challenge to his state Senate seat next time around.
Your chart needs updating o Guru