Governor Deval Patrick of Massachusetts today named Paul G. Kirk Jr to fill the US Senate seat left vacant by the death of Senator Ted Kennedy. Mr. Kirk is a former DNC chairman as well as a former aide of the late Senator Kennedy. Mr. Kirk, 71, is currently the chairman of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation in Boston. The appointment is an interim one. He will fill the seat only until a special election can be held on January 19, 2010 to determine a successor to fill the seat for the balance of the term.

More from the Boston Globe:

Governor Deval Patrick today named Paul G. Kirk Jr. to serve as interim US senator, making the announcement in the presence of the immediate family of the late Edward M. Kennedy.

"He is a distinguished lawyer, volunteer, and citizen, and he shares the sense of service that so distinguished Senator Ted Kennedy," Patrick said at a news conference at the State House. "Paul will not seek the open seat in the special election coming up in January. But for the next few months, he will carry on the work and the focus of Senator Kennedy, mindful of his mission, and his values, and his love of Massachusetts."
The late senator's widow, Victoria Reggie Kennedy, and one of his sons, Ted Kennedy Jr., watched from the audience as Patrick introduced his selection.

"This appointment is a profound honor," Kirk said. "I accept it with sincere humility."

Kirk, a longtime Kennedy family friend, reiterated that he would not run in the special election and said he planned to keep the late senator's staff.

GOP Files Motion Requesting an Injunction
However, the Massachusetts Republican Party filed a motion in Suffolk Superior Court requesting an injunction to keep the appointment of Mr. Kirk from taking effect. In its motion, Republican leaders in the Bay state argue that it was unconstitutional for the governor to have put the new law into effect immediately.

Barring a court order, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's office said that Mr. Kirk will be sworn in at 3:15 p.m. EDT on Friday.

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From the New York Times:

The State Senate on Tuesday approved a bill that would let Gov. Deval Patrick appoint an interim replacement for the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy. The measure won passage in the House of Representatives last week and is expected to land on Mr. Patrick's desk Wednesday.

The appointee would serve in the United States Senate only until a special election takes place on Jan. 19, but could play a crucial role in the fate of health care legislation making its way through Congress. With Mr. Kennedy's seat empty, Senate Democrats are not assured the 60 votes required to break Republican filibusters.

Mr. Patrick has refused to discuss potential appointees, but Michael S. Dukakis, the former governor and 1988 presidential nominee, is said to be under consideration. Other possibilities include Paul G. Kirk Jr., a former aide to Mr. Kennedy and chairman of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation in Boston; Evelyn Murphy, a former lieutenant governor; and Charles Ogletree, a professor at Harvard Law School.

The bill does not prohibit the temporary appointee from seeking Mr. Kennedy's seat permanently -- legislators feared that such a condition would not pass constitutional muster -- but Mr. Patrick has said he will ask the appointee to promise not to run in the special election.

Mr. Patrick's office did not immediately return a call seeking comment on the vote.

The Senate voted 24 to 16, with all 5 Republicans and 11 Democrats opposed. Therese Murray, the Senate president, remained publicly noncommittal on the proposal until just before the vote, despite calls from the Obama administration and from Victoria Reggie Kennedy, Mr. Kennedy's widow. Ms. Murray ultimately supported it.

Under current law, Mr. Kennedy's seat would have remained empty until the special election on January 19, 2010. Now the seat is likely to be filled by week's end.

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After the Massachusetts House of Representatives approved a measure Thursday night in a 95-58 vote that would allow Governor Deval Patrick to appoint an interim successor to the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy, the Republican in the Massachusetts State Senate on Friday temporarily blocked the chamber from taking up legislation through procedural maneuvers. Under current law, the vacant Senate seat would remain empty until the special election can be held on January 19, 2010.

The lowlights from the New York Times:

Republicans in the Massachusetts State Senate on Friday temporarily blocked the chamber from taking up legislation that would allow Gov. Deval Patrick to appoint an interim successor to Senator Edward M. Kennedy.

The House of Representatives approved the measure Thursday night in a 95-58 vote. The Republicans delayed the vote in the Senate through procedural maneuvers, and can continue to do so into next week. Proponents of the bill have predicted that it will win passage in the Senate, but with a smaller margin of victory.

Mr. Patrick, a Democrat, said Friday that if both chambers approve the measure, he will appoint a temporary successor to Mr. Kennedy "as quickly as possible." The appointee would serve until a special election on Jan. 19, and could play a crucial role in the fate of health care legislation.

With the Kennedy seat empty, Democrats in the Senate are not assured the 60 votes necessary to pass the legislation. They could use procedural shortcuts to get a bill passed, but that could cause havoc in the Senate.

Therese Murray, a Democrat and president of the State Senate, has remained publicly noncommittal on the proposal despite calls from the Obama administration and from Victoria Reggie Kennedy, Mr. Kennedy's widow.

Under current law, the Kennedy seat would remain empty until the special election. But shortly before his death last month, Mr. Kennedy asked the legislature to change the law and allow Mr. Patrick to name a temporary successor. He argued in a letter that Massachusetts needed full representation in Congress.

Republicans and even some Democrats have attacked the proposal as overly partisan. Governors here had the power to fill Senate vacancies until 2004, when the Democratic majority in the legislature changed the law to require a special election. Democrats worried then that if Senator John Kerry were elected president, Gov. Mitt Romney, a Republican, would appoint a Republican.

Representative Elizabeth A. Poirier, a Republican, said that if the legislature approved the change, it would damage its reputation and become "a pawn in the Washington game."

But Representative Cory Atkins, a Democrat, said Massachusetts could not afford to let Mr. Kennedy's seat stay empty even for a few months.

"We are truly outnumbered on the floors of the Capitol in Washington, D.C.," Ms. Atkins said. "We need every single vote."

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Must be make a decision day in Massachusetts because on the heels of Representative Markey's decision to remain in the House as Chairman of House Select Committee on Energy rather than seek election to the Senate, Politico is reporting that former Bush White House Chief of Staff Andy Card has also decided not to run for the Senate seat left vacant by the death of Senator Ted Kennedy.

Former Bush Chief of Staff Andy Card has decided not to run for the Senate in Massachusetts, POLITICO has learned.

Card is throwing his support behind Scott Brown, the Massachusetts state senator who just two days ago indicated he was prepared to back down to let the former top White House aide run for the seat vacated by the late Sen. Edward Kennedy.

Card will release a statement later Friday making clear that a Senate bid would not have been "in the best interest of my family."

Card's wife, Kathleen, is the pastor at a Methodist church in suburban Washington, and the  former chief of staff said this week that he was interested in running but that his wife's church commitment could be the one snag in his plan.

Card, a veteran of both Bush administrations, could have tapped into a national GOP donor base for the special election but would have been tarred by Democrats for his connection to the family.

Any Democrat who gets the nomination for the contest, to be decided in January, will be the heavy favorite. But some Bay State Republicans hope that Brown can at least win some valuable statewide name recognition in the four-month race.

"In these critical times, I know that Massachusetts would be well served to have Senator Scott Brown as the Commonwealth's next United States Senator," Card is to say. " He has my full support."

Andy Card certainly would have been a higher profile candidate for the GOP than State Senator Scott Brown but Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley would have been hard to beat. She is in the process of raising $1 million by end of this month, and earlier this week won the endorsement of Emily's List, the powerful national fund-raising organization that supports female candidates who support abortion rights. It was a good week for Coakley as she also won twin endorsements from the Utility Workers Union of America (UWUA) Local 369, Braintree, and the Pipefitters' Association Local 537 of Boston.

You can contribute to Martha Coakley's campaign via Emily's List.

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Representative Edward Markey of Massachusetts, a 33 year veteran of the House, said on Friday he will not run for the seat of the late Senator Edward Kennedy. Swaying his decision was his seniority in the House and his role as Chairman of the House Select Committee on Energy.

From the Boston Globe:

After nearly two weeks of weighing a run, US Representative Edward J. Markey announced today that he will not seek the Senate seat left open by the death of Edward M. Kennedy, a decision that removes a major player from the Democratic primary field.

Markey, the dean of the Massachusetts congressional delegation, said he concluded that his seniority in the House -- he is the eighth most senior member -- is all the more important now that Kennedy has died. He said that as a Senate newcomer, he would lack the influence he now has to help the state and advance legislation on a host of issues that he champions, from climate change to energy independence.

''I will have more clout for Massachusetts in the House than as a freshman in the Senate,'' said Markey, a Malden Democrat who has served in Congress since 1976. ''That was at the heart of my decision.''

Markey's announcement is a major political development in the Democratic primary race for the special election. The primary will be held Dec. 8, and the general election is Jan. 19.

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