Peter Roff (US News): Romney for Senate? Succeeding Kennedy Could Help in 2012

[Bleacher Creature]

http://www.usnews.com/blogs/peter-roff/2009/08/26/romney-for-senate-succeeding-kennedy-could-help-in-2012.html

Romney for Senate? Succeeding Kennedy Could Help in 2012
August 26, 2009 01:40 PM ET | Peter Roff | Permanent Link | Print

By Peter Roff, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

Though it may be hard to see at first, the passing of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts may have a profound impact on 2012's race for the GOP presidential nomination.

Back when Sen. John F. Kerry was his party's presidential nominee, the Massachusetts Legislature—which is overwhelmingly dominated by Democrats—changed the law to require that a special election be held after a vacancy occurs in one of its U.S. Senate seats rather than allow Republican Gov. Mitt Romney to make an appointment if Kerry had won.

The law is still that way today. (As he lay dying, Kennedy asked the state's political leaders, now that a Democrat was the commonwealth's chief executive, to revert to the previous method of picking a replacement.) And that means voters in Massachusetts will go to the polls, unless the law is changed soon, sometime in the next few months to pick a replacement for Kennedy.

Surprisingly enough, this brings things back full circle to Romney, who up to now has been busy laying the groundwork for another presidential bid in 2012. It would be an intriguing thing if, after waiting a day or two out of respect for the late senator, Romney were to downshift and announce he will be a candidate in the upcoming election to fill Kennedy's vacant Senate seat.

Such an announcement would likely be embraced immediately by the Republicans, who would like almost nothing more than to deny Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada his new, hard-won, 60-vote, filibuster-proof majority. As a self-funding candidate who has already been elected once statewide, Romney has nearly 100 percent name ID. And, in an environment where President Obama seems to be dragging the Democrats down, he would be a serious threat to the Democratic hegemony in Massachusetts's congressional delegation. Meaning Romney likely would win.

If he did, Romney would then have a platform to actually introduce legislation modeled on the proposals he put forward as a presidential candidate in 2008 and planned to put forward in 2012. No guesswork. No empty rhetoric. Real ideas, on the Senate floor, that could be evaluated, debated, and perhaps even voted on.

From the Senate floor, Romney could show his fellow Republicans, and the country, just what kind of president he would be. How he would approach national problems. As an added political benefit, it would give him the opportunity to establish true conservative bona fides allowing him to finally overcome the suspicions many conservatives in the GOP's primary electorate still harbor about him. Rather than tie him down, Romney could actually use the Senate seat to lock up the GOP nomination in 2012.

-----------------------------------------------

So I don't know for sure, but this doesn't appear to be satire. What I really want to know is whether this guy actually got paid for writing this . . .

:rofl:

[Skink]

1. I thought he said Rummy?

:puke:

[brentspeak]

2. Peter Roff's bio says he's a senior fellow at the Institute for Liberty and at Let Freedom Ring"

He's a stooge.

[d_b]

3. lol

[grytpype]

4. How about Sarah Palin?

[Submariner]

5. Yeah...go for it Mittens

We have a heap of stories to tell about your Romneycare health insurance scam. You know....that piece of cow flop you threw up against the wall to see how much would stick during your failed presidential bid. That scam.

I find it an insult that he still lives in the state.

[RFKHumphreyObama]

6. This author is an idiot

Is he seriously masquerading as a serious journalist? Why does the paper employ this fool?

Romney would have to flip flop on a massive scale from his right wing, conservative reactionary policy positions in 2008, which any half-decent opponent would highlight during the campaign for the senate seat in liberal Massachusetts. Let's say he managed to overcome this and win this seat -which is doubtful in the first place. He'd then have to flip flop back to his conservative reactionary positions shortly after he was elected so that he could consolidate his hold on the GOP party's base in order to win the party's nomination. He'd look like even more of a giant buffoon than he already is and his GOP presidential rivals would have a field day with him.

[Sebastian Doyle]

9. The "paper" in this case is US News and World Report

Which is owned by the militant neocon Mort Zuckerman. That's why they employ this tool. :puke:

[MrModerate]

7. And Tinkerbell's fairy dust *isn't* addictive . . . n/t

[grantcart]

8. Umm Romney no longer lives in Mass.

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/05/06/romney_moves_to_new_hampshire.html

[WCGreen]

11. I thought I remembered that...

See, the guy new Ted was passing on. This shows he was never even considering the Senate...

[Jennicut]

12. I guess facts don't matter to these tools...

:rofl:

[Bleacher Creature]

13. Honestly, when you're that far out in left field, why bother caring about the facts.

Mitt Romney has NO CHANCE IN HELL of winning an election for dog catcher in MA. He renounced every political position that helped him get elected Governor (i.e., choice, gay rights, etc.), and then spent the 2008 campaign trashing the state. The mere fact that he no longer lives there is the least of his problems.

[The River]

10. Elect Him In 2010

so he can spend all of his time running for
the nomination in 2012? The writer is beyond stupid.

[karynnj]

18. Not to mention even if all that happened,

which has no sense. At the earliest, he would become the 100 th Senator in senority in the minority party in January 2010. The writer then imagines that he could write legislation similar to his platform and become a force on the Senate floor - while already spending time in Iowa, NH etc.

As you said, beyond stupid.

[Divine Discontent]

14. Roff is hilarious - he should do Onion work! Mittens for Senate! OH yeah, that'll drum up at LEAST

37% support!

he's a repub stooge! one of his recent stories on US News was Obama's polling numbers of late are even worse than what the polling suggests! lol... right.

[opihimoimoi]

15. Mitt is UNFIT

[rox63]

16. Massachusetts despises Mittens at this point

He couldn't get elected to pick up trash here, never mind representing us in Washington. The people of MA know they were simply used as his stepping stone.

[WI_DEM]

17. Would MA voters replace the Lion with a blow dried Ken doll?

[bluestateguy]

19. If I was his consultant I would advise him a big NO

Massachusetts will elect a Democrat barring a monumental screwup by the party (OK, it could happen). If Romney were to lose that race, his stock for 2012 would be further damaged. Massachusetts voters are very sharp, and they would see it as a transparent quest for a presidential stepping stone. If I was his Democratic opponent, I'd hound Romney endlessly, demanding that he publicly promise to not run for president in 2012. If Romney somehow won, he's have to start running for president within a year of being sworn in, if not earlier. He'd be useless to Massachusetts.

One more thing, while Obama's approval ratings have dipped into the low 50's nationwide, that number is surely at least 10 points higher in Massachusetts. Obama bashing won't cut it there.

[saltpoint]

20. I'm hoping if Romney goes for that Senate seat that the folks in the

Commonwealth will kick his ego-driven ass from Boston to Pittsfield.

In one manner of speaking, that seat is Ted Kennedy's seat, and it would be blasphemous for a dork like Romney to even look at it, nevermind sit in it.

Go, Democrats.

[livetohike]

21. I guess Romney could try to buy this seat

As far as pursuing the Presidency again, I don't see him winning the Republican nomination.