well, this will be special... special election, that is.

[rmd]

any word yet on who's planning to throw their hats in the ring for the special election?

and oh, internet, you have failed me - i cannot find a copy of the national lampoon "if ted kennedy was driving one of these" ad with the vw beetle.
someone on metafilter found a copy: http://www.jasoncoleman.com/Media/Images/tedvwsmall.jpg

(more seriously, RIP kennedy. bad date, but good senator. those will be some big shoes to fill.)

Comments

[zianuray.livejournal.com]

http://www.interocitor.com/archives/000601.html

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexdroog70/2701038371/

[sethg]

I assume Barney Frank will be trying for the seat.

[kimberlogic.livejournal.com]

I've heard that some of the family would like Barney Frank to consider the seat.

[lil-brown-bat.livejournal.com]

Barney Frank would make a splendid senator and a worthy successor to Kennedy. So, for that matter, would John Olver (but he's really getting up there in years, and he may really want to stick with his district). I'd say that the two of them are the most well qualified of the Massachusetts congressional delegation, which is the best pool of candidates.

[deguspice.livejournal.com]

Barney Frank is a good Congressman, but from the point of view of seniority, I believe he'd go back to being a junior Congressman if he moves to the Senate.

Massachusetts just lost one senior Congressman, I'm not sure they could afford to lose two (especially if Massachusetts loses a seat in the House after the 2010 Census).

[lil-brown-bat.livejournal.com]

I don't think that years served in the House have the effect that you seem to think they do once you go to the Senate -- I believe that a Senator's seniority date is the date of their swearing into the Senate, and that's that. If two Senators are sworn in on the same date, then yes, time served in the House plays a factor -- but even then, who would you propose as an alternate? Ed Markey? He's the only member of the Mass delegation who's senior to Frank, and not by that much. Why would Markey not "go back to being a junior Congressman" by the same logic?

[flabosib.livejournal.com]

Barney Frank would be a good choice.

I've been thinking of all Kennedy's nieces and nephews who came to see him as a father figure after their own dads died. It must feel like they've lost their dad a second time. I hadn't realize that Kennedy and my dad were the same age. (Funny, I don't think of 77 as old anymore.)