All Blog Posts from Political Hotsheet

Updated 10:27 p.m. ET

CBS News has learned that Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick will name former Democratic National Committee chairman Paul Kirk to the Senate seat left vacant by Ted Kennedy's death last month.

A person briefed on the appointment told CBS News Political Director Steve Chaggaris that Patrick, a Democrat, will announce Kirk as his choice at 11 a.m. ET.

Kirk was a close friend of Ted Kennedy and was reportedly strongly pushed by the family to be picked. His supporters included both of Kennedy's sons, Patrick and Edward, as well as his widow, Victoria Reggie Kennedy.

Yesterday, the Massachusetts legislature passed a bill which allows for Patrick to make the appointment. Kirk will serve until January 19th, when a new election will be held to determine who will serve out the remaining three years of Kennedy's term.

Kirk, 71, lives on Cape Cod and chairs the Board of Directors of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation. An attorney and sometime lobbyist, it is believed he would vote in much the same way that Ted Kennedy did as senator.

CBSNews.com Special Report: Ted Kennedy

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The Massachusetts House of Representatives has cast a preliminary vote clearing Gov. Duval Patrick to appoint a successor to Sen. Ted Kennedy.

The House vote was 97 to 58. Another vote is necessary before the measure moves to the state Senate for debate, the Boston Globe reports.

State Republicans have been delaying the vote and alleging that the effort to clear the way for the appointment is based on partisan interests. But with their parliamentary delays running out, a state Senate vote is expected as early as next week.

Political observers predict there will be enough votes in the Senate to pass the measure. Patrick, a Democrat, could then sign it and appoint a replacement for Kennedy at any point thereafter.

An additional Democratic senator would be extremely valuable to Senate Democrats as they try to pass a health care reform bill expected to be opposed by nearly every Republicans senator.

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Updated 1:28 p.m. ET

Senators today paused to pay tribute to the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, lauding his work to on behalf of expanding health care coverage as they work to pass a bill in his absence.

"For three decades, including his last days, he labored with all his might to make health care a right for all Americans," Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts said, according to the Associated Press.

Kerry called Kennedy "an indispensible man."

"On every occasion, in this chamber and out, he was a man whose heart was as big as heaven, whose optimism could overwhelm any doubters and whose joy for life was wonderfully contagious," he said.

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said that Kennedy's impact "will long endure."

"The liberal lion's mighty roar may now fall on deaf ears, but his dream shall never die," Reid said of the longtime legislator, according to the AP.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell also weighed in, the news service notes, pointing out that Kennedy served in the Senate during the terms of 10 presidents. He said Kennedy's "great weapon" as a legislator was simply the fact that "people liked him."

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President Obama on Wednesday night logically and thoroughly explained his proposed health care reforms, but he capped off his nearly 5,500-word speech with an emotional appeal, evoking the memory of the late Sen. Ted Kennedy.

Near the end of his address to a special joint session of Congress, Mr. Obama revealed that he had recently received a letter from the senator, who had made health care reform the cause of his life. Kennedy wrote the letter to the president in May, after he was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, but he instructed for it to be delivered only after his death.

Mr. Obama told the Congress that in his letter, Kennedy expressed confidence that health care reform would finally pass this year. Kennedy called it "that great unfinished business of our society."

"What we face," Kennedy wrote, "is above all a moral issue; at stake are not just the details of policy, but fundamental principles of social justice and the character of our country."

Mr. Obama remarked that he has thought about that phrase -- "the character of our country" -- quite a bit in recent days.

"One of the unique and wonderful things about America has always been our self-reliance, our rugged individualism, our fierce defense of freedom and our healthy skepticism of government," the president said. "And figuring out the appropriate size and role of government has always been a source of rigorous and sometimes angry debate."

While some may have seen Kennedy's brand of liberalism as nothing more than a passion for big government, the senator's passion for health care reform, Mr. Obama said, stemmed from his own experience of having two children who suffered from cancer.

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Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., set in motion some musical chairs among Senate Democrats over committee chairmanships this afternoon, even though he is the one staying put.

Following Ted Kennedy's death, Dodd was next in line to be chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee (HELP). Dodd had been spearheading the committee's effort on health care legislation in Kennedy's absence.

But Dodd is already chairman of Senate Banking Committee and cannot hold both positions at once. He announced today that he decided to hold on to that chairmanship rather than give it up to take the gavel in the HELP committee.

That decision meant that the committee's next senior Democrat, Tom Harkin of Iowa, pictured at left, was in line to take the HELP Committee chairmanship, and he accepted, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced today.

In order to take the new job, Harkin will be giving his chairmanship of the Agriculture Committee, handing that gavel to Sen. Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas.

As for the policy implications of the moves, there is not likely to be much change in the direction of the HELP and Agriculture committees, but Dodd's decision to continue leading the Banking Committee could have an impact on President Obama's push to overhaul the federal regulatory structure in the wake of last year's financial crisis.

Many had been expecting Dodd to take the HELP Committee chairmanship and leave the Banking Committee to Sen. Tim Johnson of South Dakota. Johnson, a Senate moderate, has been more resistant to more sweeping restrictions on the industry, in part because many credit card companies operate in his home state.

CBSNews.com Special Report: Health Care

CBSNews.com Special Report: Ted Kennedy

Andrew Card, who was White House Chief of Staff for the majority of the George W. Bush administration, is seriously considering a run for the Senate seat formerly held by Sen. Edward Kennedy, a prominent Republican tells the Associated Press.

Ron Kaufman, a political strategist and friend of the former Bush aide, said Republicans are pressuring Card to consider a run. In an email to the AP, Kaufman said that Card, a Massachusetts native, has not yet decided whether to enter the race.

The only Massachusetts Republican to have formally entered the race thus far is Canton Selectman Bob Burr. Businessman Christy Mihos and former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling are also considering running for the GOP nomination.

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Joseph P. Kennedy II, the nephew of the late Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy, will not seek his uncle's U.S. Senate seat, according to a statement released today.

Kennedy, the oldest son of Robert F. Kennedy, is a former Congressman from Boston.

He announced his decision through a statement on the Web site of Citizen's Energy Corporation, the non-profit he founded in 1979.

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Former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling, an outspoken Republican who campaigned in New Hampshire for George Bush and John McCain in the past two presidential election cycles, told New England Cable News that he has "been contacted" about a possible run for the Senate seat formerly held by Ted Kennedy.

Asked if he would run, the right-hander said he has "a lot on my plate" at the moment and is thus "not even going to speculate on it."

Schilling told NECN that "the right [Republican] candidate" could beat a Democrat in Massachusetts for the seat "for the first time in a long time."

Schilling has not been quiet about his views on politics and other matters, sometimes calling into Boston talk radio shows to discuss his opinions.

"With the Massachusetts Republicans' extremely thin bench, it should be no surprise that Schilling has been contacted about running," said CBS News political director Steve Chaggaris.

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Massachusetts State Attorney General Martha Coakley this morning became the first candidate to throw her hat into the ring to replace the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, who died last week after 47 years in office.

The Associated Press reports that a woman representing Coakley picked up the papers from the Secretary of State's office today. She will need 10,000 signatures by October 20 to qualify for the Democratic primary on December 8. Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick announced yesterday that the general election for the seat will be on January 19, 2010.

Coakley is the first of several candidates who may seek the seat in what could be a crowded primary. Several Democratic congressmen are said to be considering bids and the Boston Globe reports that attorney Ed O'Reilly, who got 31 percent of the vote in a Democratic primary against Sen. John F. Kerry last year, is "seriously considering" a run as well.

Some are also pushing a member of the Kennedy family to run as well. Kennedy's widow, Vicki, has said she is not interested; but Joseph P. Kennedy II, a former congressman and son of Robert Kennedy, is reportedly thinking about it.

The Globe reports that Coakley has told associates she will run even if a Kennedy family member enters the race.

CBSNews.com Special Report: Ted Kennedy

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick announced at a press conference this afternoon that the special election to replace Ted Kennedy will be held on January 19, 2010.

A primary, which could be more important in the Democratic-leaning state, is expected to be held on December 8.

Under a state law passed in 2004, Patrick had to pick a time for a special election between 145 and 160 days after the vacancy.

The law was passed to prevent then-Republican Gov. Mitt Romney from appointing a successor to Sen. John Kerry had he won the presidency. But now, with a Democratic governor, there is a movement afoot, sparked by a letter Kennedy himself sent a week before he died, to allow Patrick to appoint a successor to serve in the interim before the special election.

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