Few are willing to even discuss succession
Massachusetts' political moorings suddenly began to slip yesterday as state leaders contemplated life with an ailing Senator Edward M. Kennedy, but their expressions of shock, worry, and disbelief were overlaid above all with a sense of hope and determination.
From Beacon Hill to City Hall, Kennedy's supporters, his admirers, and even political opponents predicted he will fight malignant brain cancer with the same gusto that he has fought poverty in America.
"I don't for a nanosecond believe he won't be back," said US Representative Edward Markey, a Malden Democrat.
"I'm not ready to hang crepe," said Senate President Therese Murray - who was near to tears in the State House yesterday as she recalled volunteering for Kennedy's campaign as a 12-year-old.
For now, none of the state's politicians are willing to discuss publicly how the state's center of gravity would shift if Kennedy were unable to complete his eighth term, which ends in 2012. And none were willing to speculate on who might someday succeed such a towering figure in national and state politics.
Instead, their response was to rally around the senator and his family and hope and pray for his recovery.
"I don't want anybody succeeding Ted Kennedy, ever," said Philip W. Johnston, former chairman of the Massachusetts Democratic Party. "I can't even imagine that. He can beat this. And he will."
Then he added, "Somebody, someday, will have his seat, but no one will take his place."
Because of a law Massachusetts lawmakers passed when Senator John F. Kerry ran for president in 2004, when they sought to blunt the effect of a possible Senate appointment by then-Governor Mitt Romney, a Republican, there is no appointment process to replace a vacancy in a US Senate seat. Instead, like only two other states, Oregon and Wisconsin, a special election would be held within several months to fill a seat.
Reflecting the delicacy of the situation, Secretary of State William F. Galvin would not discuss the state's election laws yesterday, and instead had a spokesman direct a reporter to the state law. The law says a special election would be held 145 to 160 days after either a vacancy is created or a senator declares he or she is vacating the seat. It specifically bars a temporary appointee until voters can choose a replacement.
Massachusetts leaders have been hanging on every word from Massachusetts General Hospital since Saturday, when Kennedy suffered a seizure and was airlifted to Massachusetts General Hospital. That concern turned to muted relief when his condition improved and he was eating Legal Sea Foods and watching the Red Sox.
But yesterday, during roll calls on the House floor in Washington and inside the Senate chambers at the State House, people across the political spectrum took a second emotional blow with news that the 76-year-old senator had a malignant brain tumor.
Since he first won election to the US Senate in 1962, his first time holding political office, Kennedy has been the rock of Massachusetts political life. Scores of politicians here can't recall the era when he was not representing the state in Washington.
"You don't have time and enough tape for all the different ways in which Ted Kennedy has, and continues to be, important to Massachusetts," Governor Deval Patrick said yesterday outside his office. "His interests in the meek and the mighty, for economic justice, healthcare, education - he has an extraordinary record, and I'm looking forward to continuing to work with him."
Kennedy is well-known for his national causes - expanding healthcare coverage, alleviating poverty, and No Child Left Behind, among others - but he has also used his influence to bring huge dividends to Massachusetts. He helped save Cape Cod seashore from development, and pushed for cleanup of Boston Harbor. He secured millions in research dollars for Massachusetts hospitals and military defense firms, and helped increase the clout of the state's congressional delegation.
There are several obvious possibilities who might run to succeed Kennedy, including Republicans such as Romney or Charles D. Baker, the president of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care. Several of the state's Democratic congressmen also would consider running.
Whenever someone does replace Kennedy, in 2012 when his current term expires or before then, the state's political landscape will not be the same.
"Those are shoes you don't fill," said Francis X. Bellotti, 85, a former attorney general who made his first run for statewide office on the 1962 Democratic ticket with Kennedy. "Nobody will even come close."
Matt Viser can be reached at maviser@globe.com. 