Candidates Emerging for Kennedy Seat

Attorney General Martha Coakley Announces Run; Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy II Still Deciding

(AP)  Attorney General Martha Coakley announced Thursday she will run as a Democratic candidate in the special election to succeed the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy.

The 20-year prosecutor said she can continue to be "an effective voice for the people of Massachusetts."

Kennedy died last week of brain cancer at age 77.

Coakley said at a news conference the state has had a "crisis of confidence" following Kennedy's death and she wants to pick up his mantle.

"We've depended on him here in the Commonwealth and in Washington, and we will miss his strength and leadership and his sense of humor. As some have noted, no one can fill his shoes, but we must strive to follow in his footsteps," she told supporters at a downtown Boston hotel.

Coakley sidestepped a question from reporters whether she favored changing state law to allow the governor to appoint an interim senator, as Kennedy had requested in a letter before his death. Legislators have planned a hearing on the matter for next week.

"For me, personally, I am fully focused on the race," she said, adding she trusted legislators "will make the right decision."

The 56-year-old Coakley becomes the most prominent candidate to officially declare. Several others are waiting for Kennedy's nephew, former Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy II, to decide if he will run.

Coakley said in response to a question that she decided to commit to the race without waiting to see whether a Kennedy family member would run because the senator had declared, in his letter seeking an interim appointment, that the state needs strong and effective representation in Washington.

In a follow-up interview with The Associated Press, she said:

Growing up in the Vietnam era has made her wary of President Barack Obama getting dragged into a protracted military engagement in Afghanistan, but "I trust him for now."

She has focused on health care cost containment as attorney general, since Massachusetts has the nation's first universal health insurance law, and is in favor of it being included in any overhaul law the president signs. She also said a so-called "public option" for providing government-sponsored insurance should be considered.

She dismissed as "frivolous" a Massachusetts Republican Party complaint that she used $24,000 in state campaign money to pay Washington-based consultants as she considered a federal campaign. She said all her actions have been in compliance with state and federal ethics laws.

Coakley told her supporters she decided to run "because government should work well and it has to work for everyone," adding that the performance of government "has been in some ways disheartening and discouraging."

"I believe now is the time to move beyond the idea of, well, `It's good enough for government work,' and demand a new standard of excellence. And I know that I need to prove to voters across the commonwealth that I am the best candidate and that I would be the best new senator from Massachusetts," Coakley said.

Coakley described her humble roots in western Massachusetts and her career as a prosecutor, both as Middlesex District Attorney in a large district that includes populous suburbs of Boston, and since, 2007, as the state's attorney general. She briefly teared up and paused as she described how she has reminded her staff to focus on the needs of crime victims.

"Now, with your help, I hope to bring my experience to Washington," Coakley said.

She did not overtly highlight her status as the state's top female elected official. In the interview, she said, "I think that we've reached a time when women are in business, they're in politics, they're in government. They should be. We're still breaking barriers, but I think I've done it on the merits."

Other potential Democratic candidates include U.S. Reps. Michael Capuano and Stephen Lynch. Potential Republican candidates include former Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey and state Sen. Scott Brown.

Former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling is considering an independent campaign but told a radio station Thursday that the chances are "slim to none," though he will not rule it out.

CBSNews.com Special Report: Ted Kennedy

[bubbadubba]

We should amend the US Constitution to say that all children and family members of politicians are automatically appointed to political positions when they reach 21 since it is their birthright. Like kings and their families in the middle ages. Let's quit the pretending that anyone can be a Senator and that the US is a real democracy where the people choose the candidates.

[cbvill72]

"Back at his hotel, Kennedy complained at 2:55 am to the hotel owner that he had been awoken by a noisy party.[2] By 7:30 am the next morning he was talking "casually" to the winner of the previous day's sailing race, with no indication that anything was amiss.[2] At 8 a.m., Gargan and Markham joined Kennedy at his hotel where they had a "heated conversation." According to Kennedy's testimony, the two men asked why he had not reported the accident. Kennedy responded by telling them "about my own thoughts and feelings as I swam across that channel ... that somehow when they arrived in the morning that they were going to say that Mary Jo was still alive".[13] The three men subsequently crossed back to Chappaquiddick Island on the ferry, where Kennedy made a series of phone calls from a payphone by the crossing. The phone calls were to his friends for advice and again, he did not report the accident to authorities."
Thanks for the memories Ted.

[cbvill72]

Is the vetting process going to include background checks into each candidates past. At a minimum, the new Senator should 1. Have left someone to die in an underwater car at some point in his/her life. 2. Should not serve a day in jail for his crimes. 3. Should then proclaim to a President "Are there two types of justice in this country...one for common folk and one for the high and mighty. 4. He should be able to say #3 without the slightest bit of shame. Ahhh Teddy....Thanks for dying you POS.

[hamiltoningrate]

I FEEL CHEATED - ONE QUESTION PLEASE

I wish that CBS had confronted the Sen. for ONE LAST COME CLEAN INTERVIEW - with tears, confessionals- and letting us all move on, letting us know, "was it worth it " all these years ? Did he feel that the stain had been removed just because he was a "progressive". He never apologized for being/doing wrong, for anything. I wish CBS had given him the chance to say, a simple "I am sorry."

Like a relative who died, keeping very dark secrets.....We feel cheated that he NEVER CAME CLEAN.

By such over adulation. we are all ... like some back woods people, with a baby buried in the front yard, that no body talks about, but the unmentioned is simmering below all that takes place. we look out the window, and wonder what kind of person could do what he did, but pretend that it never happened, and set his life to a music that we did not all hear.
Sadly for all , I wish CBS NEVER asked those tough questions, why not ? ... just as the Senator had grilled so many he felt had "done wrong" without hesitation, or apparently any sense of what everyone in the room was thinking about "his nerve" to do so.

Perhaps it was out of respect for his truly missed older brothers, that the media decided to forget it's mandate in a democracy.
We must ask, why not .

[stn_sage]

hamiltoningrate:

I'm truly sorry that you feel cheated by a lack of ONE LAST COME CLEAN INTERVIEW of Ted Kennedy! I truly AM! But, you know---at some point you have to move on---it just isn't going to happen---BECAUSE HE'S DEAD!

So, be a good mate and stop placing this GRIPE in many articles on this web site, OK? THIS COMPLAINT OF YOURS SIMPLY ISN'T RELEVANT TO THE STORIES BEING COVERED, OK?!

I wonder if you're equally DISTURBED over a lack of one last come clean interview with Larry CRAIG, or Tom FOLEY, or David VITTER etcetera etcetera?

If NOT, you should be!

[woeisme1]

I forgot. When she was asked about current healthcare legislation paying for abortions she said she was for it. Finally, after much leading by Matthews to see if she knew and would admit that such a provision is illegal, she finally talked about it. She said laws need to be changed so that provision could be in any reform.

I don't think she really knew that Matthews was going to lay the hammer down. But he did. She was reduced to looking like an idiot. It kinda reminded me of Palin. She's way too far left.

Where are all our heroes from days past? We need you now. Surely we have better calibre people in this country to run for office than the weirdos, the sexual perverts, the corrupt, the lunatics, the stupid...oh well you get the point.

I hope Joe 2 steps up. He's at least sane. That seems to be a plus in American politicians anymore.

[woeisme1]

Coakley is an able person. Certainly qualified for the position. But I saw her today with Chris Matthews and frankly, she made me nervous.

She's got this thing against guns. To her the 2d Amendment can be overturned by State's Rights. She seeks the licensing of all gun owners. What good is that going to do, really?

I don't know. You know what they say about first impressions. I'll be watching her. But my first impressions would not allow me to vote for her.

[starleo146]

she was a special prosecutor she had that case with the nanny from England that baby died of a brain injury. I believe she lost, and I have been away from Mass. a while nowm so if a Kennedy would run for there uncle or dads seat they will get it. The Kennedy's have helped the poor in the state AND ALSO HELPED with so many things in the state I personally would love for his son Ted to run for it. He was a wonderful speaker at his dad's Wake.

[mariannpepit]

I never heard if Coakley however Joseph P. Kennedy should be selected to fill Kennedy's seat until a special election. Gov. Patrick should not do the selecting and the rules should not be changed. The house and senate should choose someone. Joseph P. Kennedy should also campaign for senator when Ted Kennedy's seat expires. It would be great for a Kennedy to keep that seat. And there is also Caroline Kennedy. I am sure she would make a good senator.

[User_00000000002945496845]

I think the Pope should decide and should pick Louisa "The Holy" of Trinidad and Tobago.