TPMDC Mike Dukakis
MA-SEN
Massachusetts State Senate Passes Appointment Bill For Kennedy's Seat
Eric Kleefeld | September 22, 2009, 2:52PM
The Late Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA)
The Massachusetts state Senate has passed the bill to provide for a temporary appointment to Ted Kennedy's Senate seat, voting by a 24-16 margin. Gov. Deval Patrick is expected to name an appointee by the end of the week, putting Democrats back at 60 seats.
Until 2004, state law had provided for a gubernatorial appointee who would hold the office until the next regular Congressional election. State Democrats changed the process to a special election with no appointment in 2004, when John Kerry was running for president and Republican Mitt Romney was governor.
The new law, which was requested by Kennedy shortly before his death, will provide for an appointee of the same party as the departing Senator, who will be expected to not run in the expedited special election. Former Gov. Mike Dukakis, the 1988 Democratic nominee for president, is widely viewed as the favorite for the appointment.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS (71) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (2)Topics: Deval Patrick, MA-SEN, Mike Dukakis, Ted Kennedy
Bill Clinton
TPMDC Morning Roundup
Eric Kleefeld | September 22, 2009, 9:00AM
Bill Clinton: Some Right-Wingers Don't Want Black President -- But Would Be Opposing Obama If He Were White, Too
Appearing last night on Larry King Live, former President Bill Clinton weighed in on the question of whether racism has motivated opposition to President Obama, saying that Democrats ultimately have to win the health care debate on the merits. "I believe that some of the right-wing extremists which oppose President Obama are also racially prejudiced and would prefer not to have an African-American president," said Clinton. "But I don't believe that all the people who oppose him on health care - and all the conservatives - are racists. And I believe if he were white, every single person who opposes him now, would be opposing him then."
Obama's Day Ahead: Diplomacy
President Obama will deliver remarks at 9:15 a.m. ET, at U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's Climate Change Summit. He will meet at 10:30 a.m. ET with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and at 11 a.m. ET with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. He will then hold a trilateral meeting at 11:30 a.m. ET with Netanyahu and Abbas. At 1:15 p.m. ET, he will attend a lunch with Sub-Saharan African heads of state, and at 3:30 p.m. ET he will meet with President Hu of China AT 5:15 p.m. ET, he will speak at the Clinton Global Initiative, and at 7 p.m. ET he will attend Secretary General Ban's Climate Change Summit Dinner.
Topics: Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, House '10, Israel/Palestine, James Inhofe, Joe Biden, Joe Wilson, MA-SEN, Mark Foley, Mike Dukakis, Racism, SC-02
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