MA Special Election Watch Thread

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

How messy will this get, Bay Staters?

At this point, regardless of the result, I'm not expecting the process to be at all pretty.

It doesn't help that the Democratic candidates are ... sub-optimal.

[publicunofficial]

The smart thing for Patrick to do would be to appoint Markey to the Senate seat, so he can gain more name recognition and more of a reputation in order to go against Brown. I believe he made the same mistake in 2009, but Coakley's terrible campaign didn't help much.

[seanNJ9]

Smartest thing for Brown is to run for Governor next year, but Brown has proven he's not very smart.

[SUSAN CRUSHBONE]

Really, Deval?

Sounds like exactly the sort of person who should be appointed as an interim candidate who isn't going to seek election. Why are people upset?

3 words: Senator. Barney. Frank

We already have a token openly elected gay Senator (and several closeted Senators before her).

That you would automatically assume tokenism says a lot about you…

Do you think there would be more clamoring for support of Franken as the interim Senator if he wasn't gay?

That's not the question. You were implying that a majority of Frank supporters are driven by tokenism. Which is absurd, I mean just look at his record.

[Badger]

The smart thing for Patrick to do would be to appoint Markey to the Senate seat, so he can gain more name recognition and more of a reputation in order to go against Brown. I believe he made the same mistake in 2009, but Coakley's terrible campaign didn't help much.

I doubt Patrick wants to be seen as going all in on Markey like that in case he loses. He also probably doesn't want to piss off Lynch's union allies whose influence outsizes Lynch's current poor poll numbers.

For that matter, I question if Markey would even want the appointment. It would help, but hardly seal a victory against Brown, and he'd have to resign his house seat to take Kerry's seat. If he loses to Brown in the special he still has his house seat for life.

[Roemerista]

Lynch has hit the ground running.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Nv5IqKnO39g

[RogueBeaver]

Brown probably won't run. Safe D it is. Can understand the campaign fatigue.

http://bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/01/31/congressman-lynch-launches-campaign-for-senate-seat/0jIlwDE5YtSJirYrmCec7N/story.html

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

I still won't feel comfortable until he actually announces such.

A Markey-Lynch primary without the specter of Brown in the general could be a load of theatrical fun for us Massachusetts Democrats, though.

[Brittain33]

Good for Brown. He's got a bright future ahead as a millionaire or governor and he'd have to be nuts to take a risk like this.

[Keystone Phil]

Don't get too excited/depressed. I have a friend that has some fairly well placed sources that said he's prepping for a run. Could they be blowing smoke? They could but my friend is planning on working on the campaign and is getting ready to move up there temporarily for it. Stay tuned.

[RogueBeaver]

First AP said he's running, now Globe says he's not, your guy says he is... we gotta wait.

[DrScholl]

If Brown isn't running, Republicans don't have a chance at all. I don't think he's going to run for yet another partial term, that would only lead to yet another competitive race in a year.

[Brittain33]

Don't get too excited/depressed. I have a friend that has some fairly well placed sources that said he's prepping for a run. Could they be blowing smoke? They could but my friend is planning on working on the campaign and is getting ready to move up there temporarily for it. Stay tuned.

I had a cousin working for Kerry's office in 2000 who said one day before the Lieberman announcement that Kerry was the pick and they were planning for him to be the VP....

[Keystone Phil]

Ok, dude. Just telling you what I heard from a fairly confident source.

[Brittain33]

Ok, dude. Just telling you what I heard from a fairly confident source.

Chill, Phil.

[Keystone Phil]

Ok, dude. Just telling you what I heard from a fairly confident source.

Chill, Phil.

Not sure how anything there wasn't already "chill" but, again, ok.

[RogueBeaver]

He's putting out a statement in 20 minutes. Any bet it's a no?

[Keystone Phil]

He's putting out a statement in 20 minutes. Any bet it's a no?

I almost hope it is so I can get a swift round of criticism and be done with it early.

[RogueBeaver]

The answer is no, per The Fix. Congrats Dems.

[Miles]

The answer is no, per The Fix. Congrats Dems.

Well, I'm glad he's playing it safe and going for Governor.

[Keystone Phil]

Sarkozy will be re-elected.

[RogueBeaver]

Made a lot of sense. He was completely silent for months, never contacted his team, etc. Plus 4 campaigns in as many years... burnout would be a huge understatement. So now all eyes on IA.

Tisei's looking at it but he probably won't even be a decoy.

[Gass3268]

[Landslide Lyndon]

One more reason why Lynch's campaign will go nowhere.

[Oldiesfreak1854]

Weld is probably out of politics for good.  I'm sticking with Brown.