There's no gentle way to transition to the question of how Senator Byrd's seat will be filled. So here it is:
A quirk in West Virginia's laws appears to state that the replacement will likely hold the seat for the remainder of the late senator's record ninth term, through 2012; therefore, Byrd's death would not impact the partisan makeup of the chamber, nor would it directly impact the pending 2010 elections. However, there is some ambiguity in the law that has left some election experts questioning the what should happen with the seat.
State law mandates that, if a Senate vacancy occurs more than 2 1/2 years before the term is up, that a special election be held to fill the seat. However, the law states that the special election would only occur after a candidate "has been nominated at the primary election next following such timely filing and has thereafter been elected."
Then, the catch:
Because West Virginia held its 2010 primary almost two months ago, many election law experts read that provision to mean that the "next" primary would not be until spring 2012, before the general election in November, 2012. Some legal experts, speaking privately out of deference to Byrd's family, wondered whether this wording could open a legal challenge and force a special election this November, similar to those happening in Delaware and New York to fill the remainder of Senate terms vacated by Vice President Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
That's just a flat look at the procedure of it. The politics present separate issues. Gov. Joe Manchin (D) has been seen as the most likely Democratic nominee to succeed Byrd, but no one relishes the optics of a governor nominating himself for the job. But neither are most people enthralled with the idea of appointing a caretaker to temporarily occupy a seat to which Byrd attached such immense power and influence over in over 50 years in the Senate.
Byrd will likely be succeeded in the office of Senate President pro tempore -- officially third in the line of succession to the presidency -- by Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-HI). Technically, the Senate elects the president pro tem, who is then installed in office by resolution. But by tradition the office goes to the longest-serving member of the majority party.