Posted on 08/26/2009 2:27:26 PM PDT by Blackyce
Romney for Senate? Succeeding Kennedy Could Help in 2012
By Peter Roff, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
Though it may be hard to see at first, the passing of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts may have a profound impact on 2012's race for the GOP presidential nomination.
Back when Sen. John F. Kerry was his party's presidential nominee, the Massachusetts Legislature—which is overwhelmingly dominated by Democrats—changed the law to require that a special election be held after a vacancy occurs in one of its U.S. Senate seats rather than allow Republican Gov. Mitt Romney to make an appointment if Kerry had won.
The law is still that way today. (As he lay dying, Kennedy asked the state's political leaders, now that a Democrat was the commonwealth's chief executive, to revert to the previous method of picking a replacement.) And that means voters in Massachusetts will go to the polls, unless the law is changed soon, sometime in the next few months to pick a replacement for Kennedy.
Surprisingly enough, this brings things back full circle to Romney, who up to now has been busy laying the groundwork for another presidential bid in 2012. It would be an intriguing thing if, after waiting a day or two out of respect for the late senator, Romney were to downshift and announce he will be a candidate in the upcoming election to fill Kennedy's vacant Senate seat.
Such an announcement would likely be embraced immediately by the Republicans, who would like almost nothing more than to deny Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada his new, hard-won, 60-vote, filibuster-proof majority. As a self-funding candidate who has already been elected once statewide, Romney has nearly 100 percent name ID. And, in an environment where President Obama seems to be dragging the Democrats down, he would be a serious threat to the Democratic hegemony in Massachusetts's congressional delegation. Meaning Romney likely would win.
If he did, Romney would then have a platform to actually introduce legislation modeled on the proposals he put forward as a presidential candidate in 2008 and planned to put forward in 2012. No guesswork. No empty rhetoric. Real ideas, on the Senate floor, that could be evaluated, debated, and perhaps even voted on.
From the Senate floor, Romney could show his fellow Republicans, and the country, just what kind of president he would be. How he would approach national problems. As an added political benefit, it would give him the opportunity to establish true conservative bona fides allowing him to finally overcome the suspicions many conservatives in the GOP's primary electorate still harbor about him. Rather than tie him down, Romney could actually use the Senate seat to lock up the GOP nomination in 2012.
Not a huge Romney Fan but oh please, oh please, oh please. Wouldnt that just be a hoot.
It would be a seamless transition.
Great idea! Let him burn any political capital he has left.
Oh great, then we could adopt the failed RomneyCare for AmeiCare and pack it in as a nation.
Isn’t there a chicken ranch in need of an ex politician’s excellent management skills?
How amusing.
As long as he stays in the Senate until being wheeled out in 2040, I’m all for it. He’s about as conservative an R we could expect from MA (i.e. not really much of one).
NO MORE RINOS.
They will cheat, lie, steal, resurrect the dead, sacrifice babies to Satan and burn the state to the ground, before they let that happen.
The problem is that he left with very low, none reelection poll numbers, after seeing him in office once would Massachusetts make that mistake again?
There’s a better chance of anyone reading this farting out a rainbow than Mitt winning.
Go for it Romney! Then we can find out how you really feel about legislation you have to vote for. This would be a great way to vet this guy and know where he stands.
any volunteers to be on this campaign committee?
Romney would be an outstanding choice for a Massachusetts Senator.
Maybe, just maybe, he could work to convince some of the unconvinced conservative base he cares about their issues.
I like the guy, I just know there are plenty here who don’t.
Well, at least then we could stop hearing about him and the presidency.
I didn’t know that, GOPster in MA.
thanks for the info.
A big if. But regardless of who the GOP runs you know that the Democrats won't take any threat to the Kennedy Family Senate Seat lying down.
And in any case, 2008 notwithstanding, the Senate is not traditionally a path to the presidency and Romney knows that. Assuming his desire to wind up in the White House hasn't diminished then I don't see him trying for the Senate.
ROTFLMAO
Say what you will about Romney but he’ll be at least a *bit* better than **ANYONE** that the RATS would put forward.
Okay, okay... I have not scrolled down to the comments yet. Just wonder how long before “RINO” appears.
Say what you will about Romney but he’ll be at least a *bit* better than **ANYONE** that the RATS would put forward.
Sounds good, but will the Mass. Dims still change the law (again) and allow Patrick to appoint someone? But if Romney could gain that Senate seat, he would be there to show us what he believes about amnesty, maybe Obamacare, cap and tax and and most of the other Obama nonsense that will be considered in Congress during the next year or so.
Romney for Senate.
I’m all in favor. Republicans won’t spend a dime on the seat since he has his own fortune sparing party money used on another RINO, he’ll slip up and give some great sound bites to be used against him in ‘12 (even if there are plenty already) and he’ll lose.
Not sure that’s a win for him, but is for us.
It would be a great spot for Romney. I hope he goes for it.
Wow...longer than I expected...
Sounds good, but will the Mass. Dims still change the law (again) and allow Patrick to appoint someone? But if Romney could gain that Senate seat, he would be there to show us what he believes about amnesty, maybe Obamacare, cap and tax and and most of the other Obama nonsense that will be considered in Congress during the next year or so.
Romney for Senate (if possible).
What's he going to do, flip back again? Give me a break.
I don’t care for Romney as President, but he’d make a fine Senator from MA.
*********************
"Suspicions"? The author seems to be pulling our legs.
I thought he already changed his state of residence to CA, not that he couldn’t figure out a way to flip it to MA. He’s good at such things after all.
Romney is only marginally a Republican. I can’t get excited about a RINO.
For MA, he’d be a fine RINO senator.
It would do well for him to be a resident of the state.
He lives in the La Jolla area of San Diego
I thought he already changed his state of residence to CA, not that he couldn’t figure out a way to flip it to MA. He’s good at such things after all.
I would greatly fear a Snowe-job RINO. It makes more news to be one of a few ideological aisle-jumpers than to be part of a large minority that says “no.”
I just wanted to see that again.
I'm okay with that. Show Americans what being a Democrat really stands for.
-PJ
Lots of Americans are waking up to what Obama really stands for. He’s sinking steadily in the polls. And the Dims are losing the general party preference question poll to the Republicans, BUT, I wonder what the ultra-lib Dims in Massachusetts are thinking about Obama these days?
We know exactly where he stands.
No. Wait. He made another statement.
Now we know where he stands for sure.
Oh. It changed again.
This time he absolutely has convictions about ... Never mind. The breeze shifted again.
I can’t see Willard winning the seat held by Kennedy even with his previous position as Gov. Romney won the GOP primary in 08 with <51% of something just over 500,000 voters. The democrats at the same time had something over 1.2 million voters in their primary. I can’t see Romney winning that many voters over to his side even if he could get all the GOP primary voters from 08. The Kennedy’s are going to play a large role in the process as they will look at this as the Kennedy seat.
If he did try and could win it would take him out of the Presidential mix for 12 and maybe beyond.
I’m with you on this one. If he runs for the senate seat he needs to promise to serve a full term and not use it as a springboard like Zero did.
It would be awesome to have a Republican take over Kennedy’s seat. Even if he is a RINO. Any RINO is better than Ted Kennedy, and Massachusetts would never elect a conservative... so that’s the best we could hope for.
The only thing I can figure of Romney is that he most definitely isn’t a Conservative, therefore I’m not interested in seeing him involved in American politics much less allegedly on our side under the assumption “R” and “Conservative” are synonymous, thus misrepresenting whom we are, and where it is we want the country to go.
If eh won or lost he could garner a lot of national attention. After all, that worked for Lincoln in 1858. Yes, I know he is not Lincoln, but then the Lincoln of 1859 wasn’t the Lincoln wasn’t the Lincoln of 1864. Let’s see how Romney weathers the storm of a real campaign, where the odds are against him.
Then he can screw the whole country at once.
And, let him burn his fortune on something besides being a thorn in Sarah's side.
It is my understanding that he cannot run for the seat - he is no longer a resident in the state.
Since Romney obviously is thinking about running for President in 2012, I don’t think he would risk being beaten in the Senate race. Anyway, if it looked like he had a chance of winning, the Massachusetts legislature would change the law so that the governor can pick Teddy’s replacement.
Just don't see Mitt running or winning the seat.
Who will succeed Ted? Out of the US Reps, Steve Lynch is the least anti-American one. Marty Meehan (retired, now UMass-Lowell Chancellor) has a $4+ million war chest. I can't tell. But under no circumstance will it be a Republican, RINO, Independent - Dem only.
The only way i would vote for him is to hear him run on a platform of:
“We really screwed up on the Health Care thing, and I am running to make sure the rest of the country doesn’t screw up the way we did!”
Dont think that is going to happen.
But who do we have here? Very few Republicans that are known state-wide. A few decent local guys, but not enough time or money to move against someone like Joe or any of the state wide Dems.
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