The Kennedy seat

It may be gauche to admit to worrying about this so soon after Ted Kennedy’s death, but the conversations have already begun: How much harder will it be to get to 60 votes on healthcare reform and, more relevant here, climate change legislation without his seat filled?  Massachusetts procedures for finding a new senator, and the status of efforts to change those procedures to allow Gov. Deval Patrick to make a temporary appointment quickly enough to participate in the fall legislative season, are covered well in this Boston Globe piece.  The paper makes its case for such a change here, but notes that state legislators are wavering and will have to act quickly.

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