After a couple of days of stall tactics from legislative Republicans, the second hurdle in getting full representation in the Senate for Massachusetts has been cleared:
The state Senate in Massachusetts has approved a bill giving Gov. Deval Patrick -- a Democrat, as was Kennedy -- the power to name a successor who would hold the seat through a special election on Jan. 19.
The Massachusetts House approved the measure last week. Both chambers now need to vote on it one more time before it goes to Patrick's desk. The governor has said he will sign the legislation. It's understood that the person who accepts the job won't run in that special election.
The bill passage in the state Senate did not come without a sweat. Despite having a 35-5 edge in the state Senate, Democrats had to deal with a number of defections from legislators leery of changing a law that they themselves had changed just five years ago. Ultimately, Democrats lost one-third of their coalition to defections, leading to a final vote of 24-16.
The bill will now go to both houses of the legislature for a final procedural vote, and then (presuming passage) will go to the desk of Democratic Governor Deval Patrick. It remains possible that Patrick could appoint an interim replacement for the late Senator Edward Kennedy by the close of the week.
In a rather odd moment, this morning the Boston Globe saw fit to make an endorsement for the forthcoming appointment process. The Globe is calling for Governor Patrick to name former Governor and 1998 1988 (yes, I can type) Democratic presidential nominee Michael Dukakis to the Senate post. Dukakis has been one of the most oft-cited Democratic names to fill the seat until the mid-January special election.