Massachusetts Governor Would Love To Appoint Teddy's Successor

Of course he would:

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick said Wednesday he would support changing state law to allow him to appoint an interim successor to Sen. Edward Kennedy's seat while a special election is held.

Unlike most states, a successor to a vacant U.S. Senate seat in Massachusetts is chosen by special election, not appointed by the governor.

In a recent letter to lawmakers, Kennedy, who died Tuesday night, said the law should be changed to allow the governor to appoint someone to serve in the Senate during the course of the election—provided that person pledge not to run for the seat.

In radio interviews Wednesday morning, Patrick called the idea "entirely reasonable" and told WBUR-FM that he would sign the bill if it reached his desk.

"Massachusetts needs two voices" in the Senate, Patrick said.

Isn't it funny that Massachusetts didn't need two voices in 2004 when Republican Mitt Romney was governor and Teddy Kennedy was worried that Romney would appoint a Republican to replace John Kerry should he have won. Kennedy (or whoever wrote the letter that was sent from his deathbed) was demanding that the state change the law he promoted in 2004.

It's all a con game.

Jim Geraghty tweets a couple of names being floated for the Teddy seat:

CNN: Patrick Kennedy being discussed as replacement for Kennedy's Senate seat. Yes, let's ignore the fact that he lives in Rhode Island.

CNN also mentions Caroline Kennedy as possible successor. Good for Massachusetts, as she's been registered to vote in New York for 21 years.

This wouldn't be the first Kennedy to hold a Senate seat in a state in which they'd never lived. Robert Kennedy won a seat in New York in 1964, a place he moved not long before the election after leaving the Johnson cabinet.