The possibility of Massachusetts Senator John Kerry becoming Barack Obama’s Secretary of State or Secretary of Defense creates new problems for the Democrats in the US Senate.
The Democrats gained two seats in the recent elections, and would hate to lose one of those seats, which could happen if Kerry resigned from the Senate, and in theory, gave soon to be former Republican Senator Scott Brown a chance to vie for his seat in a special election, which is how he won the seat of Senator Ted Kennedy in 2010.
But the Democrats have two potential nominees to run against Brown, should Kerry go to the Presidential Cabinet.
One is Governor Deval Patrick, very popular in his second term, and someone who might like to be a United States Senator, and might even have Presidential ambitions. The second popularly elected African American Governor, he would become the seventh African American Senator, and the fifth by popular election.
But also, believe it or not, the new Congressman replacing retiring Representative Barney Frank is Joseph Kennedy III, the son of former Congressman Joseph Kennedy II, and the grandson of Robert Kennedy.
While he only takes the oath of office in January, the new young (32) Congressman with the famous last name could be the choice of the voters in the primary, bringing back a Kennedy to the US Senate.
While he has no real experience to speak of, young Joe could follow in the model of his great uncle, Ted Kennedy, who came to the Senate at age 30 untested, but ended up having a long, distinguished career of 47 years before his death in 2009.
Certainly, a Brown-Kennedy or a Brown-Patrick race would draw a lot of interest, and the odds of the seat of John Kerry remaining Democratic would be quite high, since Brown did poorly in the race against Elizabeth Warren, and has minimum funds left for another race in heavily Democratic Massachusetts.
It would be the first interesting political race of 2013!