| 15 weeks 2 days 24 min ago What if Kennedy can't finish Senate term?
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(NECN: Alison King) - Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy is in his eighth term in the U.S. Senate, and there's already been a lot of talk about what may happen if he is unable to finish his term -- even though no one wants to even think about that.
Political analyst Michael Goldman: " It is impossible for me to imagine that Ted Kennedy will not fight to stay in the Senate to the very last day. Number one because he loves it, number two because he's great at it and number three because it matters that he stays."
Still, Goldman says the names of U.S. Senate successors have been bandied about for a while now, ever since Barack Obama took the lead in the race for the Democratic nomination.
Goldman: "There is a strong sense that John Kerry, were Barack Obama to win this election, would be going into that administration in a very major capacity. So people started thinking about an open Senate seat because of that."
Two names have come up repeatedly as Barney Frank and Ed Markey.
Goldman: "I would suggest to you that both of them won't be interested because both of them would be weaker as freshman Senators than they would be as chairs of incredibly powerful empowered committees...all of this is timing and age as well as opportunity."
Michael Capuano, serious candidate for Gov, good fundraiser, Italian, liberal
Stephen Lynch, conservative if there are a lot of liberals
Tim Cahill is certainly going to think about it
Martha
Coakley, only in for single term, but she is a woman, great name recognition
Scott Harshbarger, former AG, ran for governor
Chris Gabrieli, former gubernatorial candidate, a lot of money
Just the mention of succession is an uncomfortable topic for many here in Massachusetts who find all of this too new and even distasteful to discuss. When asked a question about election laws, Secretary of State Bill Galvin wouldn't answer, referring reporters to the state law books to find out for themselves.
So, there may be a new person sitting in Kennedy's chair in the Senate, but no one will ever fill his shoes.
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