Given that Kerry is our likely nominee, there has been some speculation about how his Senate seat would be filled. Many have argued that Massachusetts allows the legislature -- not MA's Republican governor -- to fill the seat.
That is apparently not true, as this Massachusetts state legislator notes on From The Roots (the DSCC blog). This legislator, Bill Straus, has proposed legislation allowing for immediate elections to fill the seat.
Here's a quaint idea. How about allowing voters to pick who they want to serve and represent them in an elective office?
In Massachusetts many of us in the state legislature want to see that happen in the event of a vacancy in the U.S. Senate, whether next year as a result of the Presidential election or at any time. Most states, Massachusetts included, are still operating under old statutes which allow a Governor to make an interim appointment for vacancies to the U.S. Senate until the next scheduled general election. But some states, Oregon and Washington to be specific, call for prompt special elections to fill such openings.
Realistically, the legislature should have no problem passing such legislation, and given the Democratic majorities in both houses, it might even be by veto-proof margins.
And they would need to be by big margins, since there's no way GOoPer governor Mitt Romney will sign away the right to choose a Republican successor to Kerry (Bill Weld?).