Two Open Senate Seats in Massachusetts?

by: Matt Stoller

Fri Oct 24, 2008 at 18:04


Steve Clemons puts out rumors about John Kerry being appointed Secretary of State.

The rumor is that McClatchy News is trying to report a story that should Barack Obama win the election, most of the key members of his Cabinet will be announced on Friday, November 7th.

And the two most likely candidates for the job of Secretary of State, according to the rumblings are. . . . .Senator John Kerry and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson.
Matt Stoller :: Two Open Senate Seats in Massachusetts?
With Ted Kennedy sadly unable to perform his duties as Senator, Governor Deval Patrick might have the opportunity to appoint two Senators.  Most of the Congressmen in Massachusetts have been waiting years (or decades) to get a shot at filling one of these seats.  Usually Governor's hate choices like these, because you make one friend over whom you instantly lose leverage and gain a whole lot of enemies.  I suppose in this case, Patrick will at least get to make two friends... Update: Looks like MA does special elections for Senators.  Weird.

This is also interesting because, if true, it means that there will be three Senate seats emptying into the administration so far - Obama, Biden, and Kerry.  And there are rumors Jack Reed might be headed to the Department of Defense, which brings the possible total to four.  Add in Ted Kennedy and in all likelihood Robert Byrd who is too old to perform his duties on Appropriations, and that's up to six Senators who will have to be replaced in non-electoral circumstances.  If you consider the class of 2006 and 2008, with around 20 new Democratic Senators, and you're talking about almost half the caucus elected since 2006 in progressive wave elections or their wake.

Additionally, the Senate will dramatically turn over, with the most senior Senators leaving the body in the next few years.  Right now, the most senior Senator is Byrd, number two is Kennedy, number four is Stevens, number five is Domenici, and number six is Biden.  That's a lot of institutional history leaving the institution, and a shift in leadership to Senators elected in the 1980s and 1990s.

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Two Open Senate Seats in Massachusetts? | 55 comments
I doubt it (0.00 / 0)
While not an expert on the mind of Obama, I don't think this is going to happen. Bill Richardson? Maybe. Kerry? Not so much.

For just the reasons you mentioned, I can't see Obama emptying out the Senate chamber when there are so many other qualified candidates around. However, I think Colin Powell gets it if he wants it.

(p.s. How about Scott McClelland for deputy white house press secretary? Ha!)

I don't think Powell wants it (4.00 / 3)
and I think Obama would have to be absolutely crazy to name him Secretary of State. I know that not everyone sees Powell as a war criminal. But Powell is still a Republican, and most associate him with the war in Iraq (regardless of their opinion of him). I don't see how Powell could help America's image abroad.
[ Parent ]
If Obama uses Powell (0.00 / 0)
Then it will be as an informal advisor at large--among many, I assume--and, perhaps, with something to do with Africa, which is sorely in need of the US playing a more prominent non-military, non-exploitative, institution, peace and bridge-building role.

"Those who stand for nothing fall for anything...Mankind are forever destined to be the dupes of bold & cunning imposture" -- Alexander Hamilton
[ Parent ]
Africa? (0.00 / 0)
why do you think Powell would know anything about Africa? Nothing in his past would indicate that. Besides, he will probably be too busy raising money for his legal defense fund. I think after the election you will see the International Court take action.
[ Parent ]
Because he's spoken a lot (4.00 / 1)
about the Millenium Challenge project, which sees Africa as one of the regions of the world most in need of its assistance, and because he clearly wants to restore his image, which I think this would give him a chance to partially do, and which I wouldn't be surprised if Obama asks him to do. As Matt and others have said, and which I partly agree with, we should take Obama at his world. When he says "bipartisan", I believe that he means it--so long as the other side is willing to come partly halfway, and which Powell essentially did, albeit way too late and for obviously self-interested reasons, on MTP last week.

And he will not be tried in any court, US or international or otherwise. You're just kidding, right? Rumsfeld, Cheney, Gonzo, Addington, Yoo, maybe--although even then, I doubt it. But Obama is simply not going to let this happen to Powell, if only for political reasons. Powell as his putative ally helps him with the center, in ways that Powell as his enemy hurts him. And the center LOVES Powell. Obama is not a fool.

"Those who stand for nothing fall for anything...Mankind are forever destined to be the dupes of bold & cunning imposture" -- Alexander Hamilton

[ Parent ]
Um... No (0.00 / 0)
I'm curious... are you seriously deluded into thinking that OR are you just talking out your ass at what you want to see.  
[ Parent ]
Powell (0.00 / 0)
Powell is still well respected both home and abroad... while his favorables aren't in the upper 80's like before, they are still way up there...
That's being said... I don't think he wants it and he isn't the best fit...

HOWEVER.. I would love to see him in an ambassador role... or heck in an ironic twist... UN ambassador.

[ Parent ]
hell no! (4.00 / 2)
we need Kerry in the Senate. Without him, we lose a strong Congressional leader on environmental and technological issues. Just recently he announced his plan to introduce a bill for federal funding of high-speed rail.

We need him to help push that through. There are others who are knowledgeable in foreign policy and national security who aren't in the Senate.

Plus, (0.00 / 0)
putting a bunch of senior senators in the White House would undercut his "change" message before he even moves into the Oval Office. The people who will elect him aren't doing it so they can look at the same old faces. I hope he finds some fresh ones that totally confound the windbags.
[ Parent ]
agreed (0.00 / 0)
I'd keep Kerry and Reed in the Senate, if at all possible. For top level positions, I'm sure he can find non-Senators who would be up for the job.
[ Parent ]
Matt... (4.00 / 6)
As far as I know, Massachusetts no longer has the governor appoint replacement senators; they're voted on in a special election. This is from 2004, when the Massachusetts legislature did this to prevent Romney from potentially picking Kerry's successor were he elected.
oh interesting (0.00 / 0)

[ Parent ]
Yes, although since it is a Dem ruled state, they could (0.00 / 0)
change that law very quickly.  But at the moment, you are correct that the seats would be filled by special election, not a governor's appointment.
[ Parent ]
Very unlikely the law would change. (0.00 / 0)
I mean, there's a certain logic to "let the people choose who represents them," isn't there?  Changing the law back would look very bad.

And I'm from Massachusetts and can confirm what Psifighter said--senators will be elected by the people of Massachusetts.  Fortunately, there are no popular, well-known Republicans in the state.  (The only somewhat popular Republican is former governor Weld, and he moved to New York a decade ago.)

[ Parent ]
Richardson (4.00 / 1)
I've long thought the job is Richardson's if he wants it.

The interesting question is who will be AG now that Edwards has uhh...taken himself out of the running shall we say. Tim Kaine perhaps?

AG (0.00 / 0)
not that Michael Moore
[ Parent ]
Why, Eliot Sp... (0.00 / 0)
...Oh wait.
[ Parent ]
I hope it is still Edwards (0.00 / 0)
Take a stand against making private sexual matters a public issue.
[ Parent ]
Edwards was a trial lawyer and has no record (4.00 / 3)
of putting down government corruption.  We know how bad the Justice Dept. is at this time.  We need someone who can be courageous, and doesn't have any baggage.  
[ Parent ]
Right... (0.00 / 0)
Because our side has NEVER used a marital affair or other bedroom issues against hypocritical right wingers KOFF Mark Foley KOFF...

Edwards fucked up and he got caught.   Its the price of being a public figure.  

At this time, he needs to mend his marriage and family...

I could very easily see Edwards as AG in 3-4 years though... or even as a judge appointment.  He can survive an affair politically, but he needs to keep under cover at this point.

[ Parent ]
I nominate John Kerry for AG (4.00 / 1)
Kerry actually was a prosecutor in Mass. as well as a stellar investigator in the Senate of scandals like Iran/Contra, CIA drugrunning, and BCCI.

Of course, I actually like Kerry in the Senate, but if we are throwing out names for cabinet positions Kerry seems to me as a stealth candidate for A.G.  

[ Parent ]
Russ Feingold (4.00 / 1)
if we're lucky,
[ Parent ]
Senate Foreign Relations Committee (4.00 / 3)
Reading this I was thinking isn't Kerry in line for Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee? So, I checked out the membership and next in line after Biden is Dodd. Would he leave his place as Banking Committee Chair now that we have the financial crisis? Seems to be Banking gives him much more exposure and influence right now than Foreign Relations. There's also a succession problem in that committee as Tim Johnson would be next in line and I'm not sure he has recuperated enough (correct me if I'm wrong) to chair this committee. After him come Jack Reed (possible Def. Sec.) and Chuck Schumer.

Assuming Dodd would stay as Banking Chair, John Kerry would take over chairing the Foreign Relations Committee. Considering this, I think his likeliest avenue after this election is chairing the Foreign Relations Committee.

However, there is one incredibly sweet scenario: if Biden becomes VP, Dodd stays at Banking, and Kerry moves to the cabinet who becomes Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee?

Sen Russell D. Feingold of Wisconsin

Considering that Kerry as Sec. of State is just one rumor about what may happen after the election, I think we're in for a lot of surprises, some good, some bad, once Nov. 4th is over.

My Silver State - Nevada's Progressive Community Blog

rumors (0.00 / 0)
it is nice to hear rumors that Obama plans to choose Democrats.  
I doubt it (0.00 / 0)
Not Kerry. Makes no sense, and Obama isn't that foolish (I hope). More likely Reed--or, gasp, Hagel, whom I've got to believe will be in his cabinet (although if he is, I'd hope that it would be VA administrator, and not a top-level position). Wasn't Clemons also plugging Bayh for VP?

But there will clearly be some prominent retirements over the next few years. We're entering a whole new reality.

"Those who stand for nothing fall for anything...Mankind are forever destined to be the dupes of bold & cunning imposture" -- Alexander Hamilton

oooooooooo Hagel (4.00 / 3)
Yeah, lets get someone who is on the record for torture in the cabinet, just the thing to restore our image in the world.
[ Parent ]
I didn't say that I want this (0.00 / 0)
Just that Obama has given reasons to believe that he does. Please don't confuse the two.

"Those who stand for nothing fall for anything...Mankind are forever destined to be the dupes of bold & cunning imposture" -- Alexander Hamilton
[ Parent ]
Dude... (0.00 / 0)
Your using logic with a well known concern troll...   You're fighting a hopeless battle.
[ Parent ]
Didn't know that (0.00 / 0)
I give people the doubt of my benefit until proven wrong...

"Those who stand for nothing fall for anything...Mankind are forever destined to be the dupes of bold & cunning imposture" -- Alexander Hamilton
[ Parent ]
That's not good (0.00 / 0)
That's a lot of institutional history leaving the institution, and a shift in leadership to Senators elected in the 1980s and 1990s.

That's bad news because we're losing the last of the old-line progressives, folks like Kennedy and Kerry and Biden, and the new progressive generation hasn't yet had a chance to lead.

The Senate Dems elected in the '80s and '90s tend to be moderates whose politics were profoundly shaped by Reagan and Clinton, who emphasize accommodation and compromise over all else. Their economic policies also tend to be Reaganite as they are convinced that the policies of the 1980s and 1990s are generally good ones.

My hope is that Senate leadership will skip a generation. Even Hillary Clinton is better than a chamber whose senior leaders are Dianne Feinstein and Jay Rockefeller.

Don't worry so much. (0.00 / 0)
We still grow progressives in Massachusetts.  In all likelihood one of the progressive House members would take each seat.
[ Parent ]
Personally, I'd like to see Fareed Zakaria as Secretary of State... (0.00 / 0)
But I don't imagine that will happen.  I do hope Obama will reach into academia and/or media intellectuals for at least some posts in and under the cabinet level; I think the idea that cabinet secretaries need to be politicians is a mistake, much like the notion that Supreme Court Justices should be appointed from the federal bench -- after all, from the progressive point of view the greatest chief justice we've ever had was Earl Warren, three-term governor of California but never a judge (though he was a DA and then Attorney General of California before he was governor).  I'd love to see Obama appoint Laurence Tribe and/or Tribe's protegé, Kathleen Sullivan, to the Court.  Tribe, of course, was one of Obama's professors at Harvard, and is currently advising his campaign, so it wouldn't be much of a stretch.  

"A fantasy is not even a wish, much less an act.  There is no such thing as a culpable or shameful fantasy."  -----Lady Sally McGee
PNAC! (0.00 / 0)
Yes, lets get everyone like Zakaria who signed the orgiginal PNAC document in the new administration. Because they have such a record of good judgment!
[ Parent ]
I'm 99 percent sure (0.00 / 0)
he never signed a PNAC document. That's a pretty loaded charge, I'd like to see you back it up.

John McCain: Beacuse lobbyists should have more power
[ Parent ]
not PNAC (4.00 / 1)
I stand corrected, he did not sign any PNAC document, but he was an active cheerleader for the war
Back in August 2002, Newsweek hawk Fareed Zakaria argued: "Done right, an invasion would be the single best path to reform the Arab world. Were Saddam's totalitarian regime to be replaced by a state that respected human rights, enforced the rule of law and created a market economy, it could begin to transform that world."

[ Parent ]
I think you confused .. (0.00 / 0)
Zakaria and Francis Fukuyama .. but you corrected it  ;-)
[ Parent ]
Zakaria is not a signatory nor contributor to PNAC (0.00 / 0)
[ Parent ]
Richard Holbrooke would be fine for SecState (4.00 / 1)
despite his ego... if Richardson doesn't want it, of course. Yeah, I know, he's a Hillaryite, but heck.

Other excellent candidates:
- the other Rice (Susan)
- Gary Hart (though I'd put him at Homeland Security or Defense).
- Dick Lugar (I'd think he'd be a great "cross the aisle" choice)

After what we've experienced these last 8 years (4.00 / 1)
choosing a Republican for Secretary of State would be one of the worst things Obama could do (regardless of whether he/she is seen as a "moderate").

I like the thought of a non-politician Secretary of State. At the very least, I don't think we want to lose a sitting Democratic senator. Susan Rice seems like a good choice. But I cringe when I think about the inevitable bigoted comparisons to her predecessor (because the media won't be able to distinguish two Black women named Rice, regardless of their obvious differences).    

[ Parent ]
Lugar endorsed the Obama Foreign Policy (0.00 / 0)
and I think it's making a difference in Indiana
http://www.republicansforobama...

Besides, I think that "bi-partisan" choice would be the best expression of the Obama United States of America meme.

Yeah, it's difficult to think about Republicans in a Democratic President's cabinet after 8 years of what we've had.  

[ Parent ]
I wouldn't be surprised to see Republicans in the Cabinet (4.00 / 2)
but Secretary of State is an extremely powerful position. I don't think it should go to a Republican (under any circumstances).
[ Parent ]
Don't forget that Kerry is up for re-election at the moment. (4.00 / 1)
At this point, we are dealing with rumors, and if I recall, Obama keeps his cards close to his vest.  Now, there is no doubt that Kerry is a close confidant and trusted ally and would serve Obama well as Sec. of State.  But he has options here:  like Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.  And another cabinet position I would love him to be considered for is Attorney General.  Remember he was a prosecutor in Mass., not to mention his stellar and courageous investigations of Iran/Contra, CIA drugrunning and BCCI.

So who knows.

Kennedy is retiring? (0.00 / 0)
The USATODAY sez that he was drafting his "affordable heath care for everyone" legislation, which he said would introduced the first day of the new session and have all of the stakeholders inolved...

Plus, Kennedy strikes me as the die in office kind of guy...and I remember him saying he wanted his wife to replace him, which would limit Deval's Mass Dem Party's options for the special election.  

Truth over balance, progress over ideology

I don't think he would retire. But sadly, if you read (4.00 / 1)
the prognosis for his condition, it seems clear that he won't finish out his term.  I do hope he can work come January.
[ Parent ]
Hillary Clinton for UN Ambassador? (4.00 / 1)
Would she take the job? She'd be fantastic, and it would be ultra-convenient as the one senior administration job centered in New York (save for Fed Chairman, which doesn't come up for vacancy right away). Or would the Supreme Court be a better bet?

Though I sure do like the idea of Kathleen Sullivan for the Supreme Court. (Tribe is too old; Sullivan could serve for the next couple decades at least.)

Although I'm reluctant to think too much ahead here. There's an election to be won, and this is no time for complacency.

Why not .. (0.00 / 0)
Jonathan Turley for Supreme Court? .. or Lessig
[ Parent ]
Lawrence Lessig for CTO? (0.00 / 0)
I thought he was on one of the short lists. I love the thought of Kathleen Sullivan. I first heard of her when the Prospect listed her as a wild card VP candidate. And she's pretty young, too (she could hold on to the seat for a while).  
[ Parent ]
Why Not Jonathan Turley? (0.00 / 0)
     Because he's a life-long Republican stooge who only became a critic of Bush because of civil liberties issues, but is still a right-winger on issues involving business, equal protection, and women's and gay rights.
[ Parent ]
Anita Hill for Supreme Court (4.00 / 1)
She's well qualified having a career as a law school prof, iirc. And just by coming to work in the morning she could make Clarence Thomas's life miserable for, well, until he resigned or retired.
[ Parent ]
McClatchy- reporting rumors?? (0.00 / 0)
Is that that they do now? Report rumors as if they were news.
Special elections (0.00 / 0)
If there's a vacant Senate seat mid-term in Massachusetts, we will get a special election to fill it, not an appointment by the governor.  That law was passed when there was a chance Kerry would be elected President in 2004 and we had a Republican governor who would've replaced him with a Republican.  That was the impetus, but now that it's passed, I doubt this law will ever be changed.
Jack Reed (4.00 / 1)
     You DO understand that Rhode Island has a Republican governor, right?
    We're going to bust our humps to get to 60 senate seats, and then give one up so Reed can be Secretary of Defense?
    We definitely need Democrats in the national security and other major cabinet positions. If Obama wants a few Republicans, make them Secretary of Agriculture or Energy or Transportation. Say Chuck Grassley for Agriculture and Olympia Snowe for U.N. Ambassador.  
    I very much like the Kerry idea, because it honors Democrats who have gone before. He ran an honorable campaign, and the party would benefit by showing that he would have been far more capable than Bush at conducting our foreign relations. After the campaign he ran, I wouldn't hire Bill Richardson to put phone sex cards under windshield wipers.    
Johanns for Secty of Agriculture? (0.00 / 0)
If he's elected to the Senate he won't want to keep the same old job very long; he never does.
[ Parent ]
We don't need 60 seats... (0.00 / 0)
60 seats doesn't guarentee legislation... not in our coalition..

As Bowers pointed out, every piece of significant legislation would get cloture if we have 56 dems... except for Card check which is 58... enough GOPers cross over on the cloture motion

[ Parent ]
With Obama in the Exec branch, Senate again will be melanin deficient (0.00 / 0)
...though not exactly lily white, with a few Asian Americans and Hispanics.

IIRC, the only Senators since reconstruction with recent African ancestry have been Edward Brooke, Carol Mosley Braun and Barack Obama.

I hope that some Senate vacancies are filled by African American Dems.  

There is no such thing as a free market.

Two Open Senate Seats in Massachusetts? | 55 comments
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