Kerry could be a winner in Nov. (Scott Brown, senior senator?)

Boston Herald ^ | 5/7/12 | Kimberly Atkins

[raccoonradio]

WASHINGTON — His name’s not on any ballot, but the November election will have the biggest impact on U.S. Sen. John Kerry’s political future since his presidential loss in 2004.

That Kerry would like to assume a spot in President Obama’s cabinet if the president is re-elected — specifically, at the State Department when Hillary Clinton leaves the post, as she has promised to do — is probably one of Washington’s worst kept secrets. Kerry, still smarting from 2004’s presidential election loss, has spent the ensuing years with his nose to the grindstone focusing on foreign policy, commerce and infrastructure. But he’s also been regrouping and considering his political future. A Cabinet post isn’t the Oval Office. But it’s a pretty nice place to land.

But whether or not he’d accept that spot, if it’s offered to him, depends in large part on the outcome of this year’s Senate race between U.S. Sen. Scott Brown and Elizabeth Warren. Kerry “doesn’t want Scott Brown to be the senior senator from Massachusetts,” one political operative told me.

There is little love lost between Kerry and Brown, and handing Brown such a gift would be tough for the five-term senator, should Brown and Obama both be re-elected.

Of course, folks from Boston to Washington who are close to the senator assure me that Kerry loves the job he has. After all, being the 12th most senior senator on the Hill and holding powerful committee posts is nothing to sneeze at. If he is called by the president to serve, he would consider it seriously, but he doesn’t need a promotion, I’m told.

Last week Kerry told Politico that his higher profile on the campaign trail boosting the president’s foreign policy positions is not a job tryout. “I’m not thinking about it,” he said to Politico of the secretary of state rumors. “I’m going to run for re-election (in 2014) and I’m very happy doing what I’m doing.”

But of course Kerry wants to be secretary of state, just as he did in 2008 when Obama chose Clinton for the post instead. That hurt, too. No matter what he tells reporters, Kerry wants his political legacy to start with something other than “failed presidential candidate.” The ghosts of the 2004 presidential election still haunt him — as does the fact that his desire to try again in 2008 was eclipsed by Obama’s national momentum.

If Warren wins the Senate race, it’d be a no-brainer. But frankly, the same should be true if she loses. Yes, it will leave a bad taste in Kerry’s month to allow Scott Brown to rise higher. But Kerry also would be giving Warren a potentially big present, too: a second bite of the apple in a special election for his vacated Senate seat. For once, letting go of old ghosts and rivalries might give everyone a chance to move forward, Kerry included.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

Wasn’t that the time when President-elect Nixon sent him to Cambodia on a secret mission up river to kill Superman’s father?

[Freestate316]

Nixon sent him there a month before his inauguration! It was SEARED into his memory! Liberals never have to deal with truth. The clueless sheep believe it and the state run media affirms it. Is there any wonder why the liberal public education system doesn’t teach American history like they once did?