No, I Don't Get It, EitherHere's a suggestion that
Mitt Romney run for the late Ted Kennedy's seat in the Senate.
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.
Well, you can probably spot the fly crawling rapidly towards the ointment in that last sentence; it's the word "likely". Romney's a talented politician; so talented that he almost won the Senate against Ted Kennedy back in the 1990s. But he also almost won the presidential nomination in 2008 by running as the "real conservative" in the race, something that would seem impossible to overcome in Massachusetts.
There's talk about how Kennedy's funeral will turn out to be Wellstone II; don't count on it. Remember, Wellstone I came during a favorable year for the GOP, just before the election that gave the GOP a 55-45 vote majority in the Senate. Indeed, Wellstone I was unsuccessful as Norm Coleman took his seat (only to lose it to that idiot Franken).
Romney doesn't need the seat to have credibility with the GOP, and it's silly to suggest that he'd be the favorite to get to the Senate, while he just may be the favorite to get the GOP presidential nomination for 2012 already.
Labels: Mitt Romney, Paul Wellstone, Ted Kennedy
