2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: I adore Barney Frank... [View all]NPolitics1979
(613 posts)Kerry's replacement.(120,000 more Anti Bush voters in OH showed up to the polls). MA state legislature did not trust Romney because unlike the previous Republican Governors- Weld,Cellucci,and Swift, Romney was a right winger who was trying to turn MA into MO. The MA legislature took away Romney's power to appoint and call for an early special election. When Deval became Governor in 2007 and Teddy's illness in 2008, The state legislature give the governor the power to appoint-Democrats needed the Kirk-D 60th vote to pass Obaromney care.
If Deval decided to appoint Kennedy's replacement in 2009 that was not a caretaker ie Kirk but someone who had an incumbency advantage and could serve in the US Senate for a next 3 decades- he probally would have selected his LT Governor Tim Murray.