https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_G._Kirk#U.S._Senate
> In August 2009, Senator Ted Kennedy died, leaving a vacancy in the Massachusetts Senate delegation. Five years earlier in 2004, the Massachusetts General Court had withdrawn the authority of the governor to fill a U.S. Senate vacancy by appointment, to prevent the then-Governor Mitt Romney, a Republican, from appointing a fellow Republican to fill the remainder of Democrat John Kerry’s Senate term, if Kerry were to win the 2004 presidential election. The legislation was enacted over Romney’s veto.
The woman-killing drunken whale wanted *that* altered (maybe temporarily) to permit racist Deval Patrick to appoint a temporary (Demwit) replacement during Obamacare furore on the Hill, then move on to the special election.
Thanks for the clarification—I confused 2004 with 2009. I recall that after Scott Brown won the special election, Harry Reid delayed letting him vote for several weeks, so that the temporary senator (Democrat) could still vote, even though legally his status ended as soon as the special election was held.