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Ailing Kennedy Wants Seat Filled Quickly

By GLEN JOHNSON

posted: 8 HOURS 22 MINUTES AGO

comments: 4872

filed under: National News, Political News

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BOSTON (Aug. 20) --A cancer-stricken Sen. Edward M. Kennedy has asked Massachusetts leaders to change state law to allow a speedy replacement if it becomes necessary for him to surrender his seat, fearing a months-long vacancy would deny Democrats a crucial vote on President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.

In a note to Gov. Deval Patrick and other state leaders, Kennedy asked that lawmakers allow the governor to appoint an interim replacement pending election of a successor, to ensure there would not be a period with a vacancy. Currently, the law requires a special election to be held within five months.

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Ted Kennedy's Cancer Battle

Sen. Edward Kennedy's memoir is due out Oct. 6, and the publisher plans to offer a special, limited edition at a price tag of $1,000. The leather-bound edition of 'True Compass' will include Kennedy's electronic signature as well as family photographs not available in the standard $35 hardbound edition.

Charles Dharapak, AP

"It is vital for this commonwealth to have two voices speaking for the needs of its citizens and two votes in the Senate during the approximately five months between a vacancy and an election," he wrote.

Health care has been Kennedy's signature issue. Although Democrats hold a potentially filibuster-proof margin in the Senate, the fate of a sweeping health care bill could hinge on a single vote and some moderate Democrats have been wavering. Another Democrat, Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia, has been seriously ill and often absent.

Kennedy's letter acknowledges the state changed its succession law in 2004 to require a special election be held 145 to 160 days after the vacancy. At the time, legislative Democrats — with a wide majority in both chambers — were concerned because then-Republican Gov. Mitt Romney had the power to directly fill any vacancy created as Democratic Sen. John Kerry ran for president.

The letter was sent Tuesday, but Kennedy aides insist there is no material change in his condition since he was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor in May 2008. Kennedy was initially treated with surgery, followed by chemotherapy and radiation treatment.

"For almost 47 years, I have had the privilege of representing the people of Massachusetts in the United States Senate," Kennedy wrote in his letter. He added that serving in the Senate "has been — and still is — the greatest honor of my public life."

The 77-year-old has been convalescing at his homes in Washington and in Hyannis Port, as well as a rental property in Florida, but his absence from last week's funeral on Cape Cod for his sister, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, prompted a flurry of questions about his own health.

An aide said the letter was one of several written by Kennedy in early July. Another was to Pope Benedict XVI and was hand-delivered by President Barack Obama during a visit to the Vatican.

In his succession letter, Kennedy suggests the governor ensure the fairness of any appointment to replace him by seeking an "explicit personal commitment" his appointee will not seek the position on a permanent basis.

Despite speculation that Kennedy's wife, Vicki, is interested in the seat, family aides have said she is not interested in replacing her husband either temporarily or permanently. One of Kennedy's nephews, former Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy II, has also been described as interested, along with a number of the state's remaining congressional members and local lawmakers.

Amid similar speculation about a Senate vacancy last fall, when Kerry was under consideration for secretary of state, Senate President Therese Murray was adamant that the law not be changed. After recent inquiries from The Associated Press, aides to both Murray and House Speaker Robert DeLeo said they are unlikely to back any change.

Aides to both leaders say an election was more democratic than a gubernatorial appointment, and they cited the legal and political problems that plagued former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and New York Gov. David Paterson when they filled vacancies for President Barack Obama and former Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, respectively.

Secretary of State William Galvin, who oversees elections in Massachusetts, said Thursday the law cannot be changed without debate, public hearings and a vote by the Legislature while meeting in formal session. The Legislature is currently in informal session, meaning an objection by one lawmaker can hold up the change.

"This is not a change that could happen today," Galvin said. He said there is no provision in current law for any kind of interim appointment.

Murray is also a strong backer of Martha Coakley, the first female attorney general in Massachusetts and someone who has quietly laid the groundwork for a special-election campaign.

In a joint statement to The Boston Globe, which first reported news of Kennedy's letter, both Murray and DeLeo were noncommittal.

"We have great respect for the senator and what he continues to do for our commonwealth and our nation. It is our hope that he will continue to be a voice for the people of Massachusetts as long as he is able," they said.

Patrick said in a statement: "It's typical of Ted Kennedy to be thinking ahead and about the people of Massachusetts, when the rest of us are thinking about him."

Patrick was the top civil rights official in the Clinton administration, and he has argued about the importance of the public vote. But last fall he noted more than 40 other states fill congressional vacancies by gubernatorial appointment. He also cited the state's deteriorating fiscal condition as one argument to skip a special election and empower the governor to fill vacancies.

"These are always sensitive calls, but there are sensitive calls and decisions that governors have to make," he said in December.

Under the current law, the governor must call an election within 145 to 160 days of receiving a resignation letter. A primary would be held five or six weeks beforehand, reducing the time candidates would have to raise money for a campaign.

Besides Joseph Kennedy and Coakley, Democrats who might try to succeed Kennedy include Reps. Stephen Lynch, Michael Capuano, Edward Markey, James McGovern and William Delahunt.

Former Rep. Martin Meehan, now chancellor of the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, has $4.8 million in his federal campaign account, the largest sum of any potential candidate. That would give him the advantage in any special election sprint.

On the Republican side, potential candidates include Cape Cod businessman Jeff Beatty, former Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey, former U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan and Chris Egan, former U.S. ambassador to the Organization for Cooperation and Development.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. Active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.

2009-08-20 06:38:15

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AP U.S. NewsBrief at 8:01 p.m. EDT
4 hours ago
Ailing Kennedy seeks to change law on succession
6 hours ago
Text of letter from Sen. Kennedy to Mass. leaders
13 hours ago

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CARLHECK5

01:03 AMAug 21 2009

BOUNCERDAVE2006 12:59 AMAug 21 2009 CARLHECK5 12:57 AMAug 21 2009 This is fun, seeing the Right wing whack jobs, spit all over themselves....calling everyone names & spouting lies----------sort of like vroom vroom ============= I haven't figured what this vroom is supposed to mean? Is it because I ride a Harley, drive a Porsche, or enjoy a Honda dirt bike? I'll probably need someone a little smarter than Susan or Bouncer...... they are still working on lighting matches

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RaspberriesO

01:03 AMAug 21 2009

yvIIIe7701:01 AMAug 21 2009RaspberriesO 12:59 AMAug 21 2009 Rialboxca12:57 AMAug 21 2009Wow yville.... It sure is easy to tip you over, isn't it?>>>>>>>>>>Awww, he's no fun, he fell right over!///////////All my blood went to my penis thinking of Barack.>>>>Here -- have a kleenex. Hahahahahahaha. I don't know what to say, but I'm LMAO.

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ImsI12b

01:03 AMAug 21 2009

Wow! Even with his final dying breaths, Ted Kennedy's top priorty is still how best to screw up the USA.

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TonyDownes58

01:03 AMAug 21 2009

Kimski407701:01 AMAug 21 2009yvIIIe77 12:57 AMAug 21 2009 Rialboxca//Wow- the looney lefties are REALLY foaming at the mouth tonight!!! This is almost as much fun as the mid-terms will be......///////////////// Im a moron...............................................You and Tonydownes58 who needs to be reported to AOL.>>>report this ,.!.. kunt.

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KOCHMAN3

01:02 AMAug 21 2009

BY THE WAY ...RADICAL CHIMP REFERS TO HIS GIANT EARS ,WHICH I BELIEVE ARE MADE FROM THE SAME TYPE OF STYROFOAM AS THE FAKE GREEK COLLUMNS WERE....

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Smo1111

01:02 AMAug 21 2009

Recon Nav 12:54 AMAug 21 2009 Zany to the maxx, what about the Kerry fortune that came from his great grandfather's smuggling of opium into China and the Opium Wars his family started between Britain and China to make safe their smuggling operation? By the way, Laura Bush had a tragic traffic accident; Ted Kennedy murdered a young woman he had screwed and drove his wife to suicide.To stay on subject, wasn't Ted Kennedy instrumental in getting MA's law changed to its present system so as to deny Gov. Romney from appointing a new senator should traitor Kerry have won?>>>>>>>>>LOL....Laura had a tragic traffic accident.......after she ran a stop sign.

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Silkscreen001

01:02 AMAug 21 2009

The posts on this site are so full of misinformation that it is no wonder Obama was voted in as President. No one does their homework or research. It is pathetic. Prescott Bush did not work for the nazi's and was exhonorated by the Anti Defamation League. You all do know who that is don't you. And Laura Bush did not murder her boy friend. She went tthrough a stop sign and hit a car that killed a young man that she knew. It was an accident. She was 17 and made a mistake that cost the life of a young man. But she did not murder anyone. Jeez This site is something else.

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RaspberriesO

01:01 AMAug 21 2009

Catroina212:59 AMAug 21 2009RaspberriesO 12:56 AMAug 21 2009 Catroina212:53 AMAug 21 2009why the hell is anybody replying to the 2 main morons posting tripe ?>>>>>Two? lol<<<<<>>..........................""2 main morons""">>>>>>>As opposed to the other "sub-morons?" ;-)

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Kimski4077

01:01 AMAug 21 2009

yvIIIe77 12:57 AMAug 21 2009 Rialboxca//Wow- the looney lefties are REALLY foaming at the mouth tonight!!! This is almost as much fun as the mid-terms will be......///////////////// Im a moron...............................................You and Tonydownes58 who needs to be reported to AOL.

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yvIIIe77

01:01 AMAug 21 2009

RaspberriesO 12:59 AMAug 21 2009 Rialboxca12:57 AMAug 21 2009Wow yville.... It sure is easy to tip you over, isn't it?>>>>>>>>>>Awww, he's no fun, he fell right over!///////////All my blood went to my penis thinking of Barack.

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