Goin’ Demmycrat

Ted Kennedy was not even cold in his grave before the early motions by a number of Democratic politicians had begun to replace him, but now we are finally on the eve of the special primary election to choose the official Democratic and Republican candidates, which, this being Massachusetts, is pretty much tantamount to actually filling the vacant seat, since the Republican guy is nothing but token opposition. Whomever wins the Democratic primary is 99.99% likely to be the next junior senator, unless he or she turns out to be a hoax candidate looking for a Bravo reality show or yet another of Tiger Woods’ many paramours. And even then he/she has a pretty good shot.

The four Democrats are not entirely the ones that might have been anticipated during the last year of Ted’s life, as the end became more and more plainly imminent. At least one missing candidate chose to sit it out because of the last-minute waffling of the most likely candidate — Joe Kennedy — who ultimately decided to sit out too. So the two traditional politicians who did declare went from being likely also-rans to serious contenders. That left wiggle room for the other two candidates, who would have been laughed right out of the race otherwise, to make some noise. The noisiest has certainly been Steve Pagliuca, one of the owners of the Boston Celtics, who, if nothing else, managed to raise his name-recognition with his constant barrage of ads. He is, however, completely unqualified to hold one of the most important seats in the United States Senate; I realize that there is a long tradition of buying one’s way into the Millionaire’s Club of Washington D.C., but this really isn’t the time to be giving some complete novice a turn to play senator. The other non-politician, Alan Khazei, is another rich guy, but with the pedigree of being a civic do-gooder. He’d probably make a very good governor, and I hope he takes this opportunity to turn his campaign into a starter for a gubnatorial campaign next fall — our current governor is a complete waste of time and doesn’t deserve a second term, and rather than give it up to some wackjob Republican, Khazei would be a good replacement.

Of the two traditional politicians, it’s great to be able to say that either would be okay as a senator if they win. However, I think that it’s very important this time around to take the long view and think about whomever is chosen as potentially being someone who will become nationally significant and politically prominent for a very long time to come. It’s my concern, frankly, that the front runner, state Attorney General Martha Coakley, is not likely to become that person. Her political ambitions have pushed her very quickly into a state-wide office without much time to develop beyond her roots as a prosecuting attorney. So again, it’s just a little too much on-the-job training required, and I also suspect that she would be vulnerable to targeting from the Republican Party when the natural election for the seat rolls around.

The other traditional politician is Representative Mike Capuano, who did, in fact, replace Joe Kennedy when he quit his Congressional seat. Capuano has been a member of Congress for a dozen years, sitting on unglamorous-but-important committees like Transportation & Infrastructure and Financial Services. Before going to Congress, he was the mayor of the inner-ring suburb of Somerville. To my thinking, that’s exactly the sort of resume one hopes to see from a Senatorial candidate, not dilettantism or ladder-climbing over-ambition. If elected, it is easy to imagine Capuano as being able to step immediately into the political realm of the Senate without a learning curve and grow into a leadership role despite being the junior senator, much as John Kerry was able to emerge in his own right despite the overpowering importance of Ted Kennedy.

For most of my adult life, I have been registered as an independent voter, eschewing the opportunity to vote in party primary elections, but I’ve decided that this particular primary is worth voting in to try to have whatever sway a single voter can have in an election that is likely to have as much significance locally as voting in a presidential election does nationally. The passing of Ted Kennedy marked a genuine turning point in American politics and likely in American history as well, and the choice of his replacement is too important to waive for the sake of maintaining non-affiliation with a party I mostly vote for anyway. Tomorrow I will cast my vote for Mike Capuano for Senate.

To my readers who are not fellow Massholes and neither know nor care about our local electoral politics, I apologize for monopolizing your attention, but believe me when I tell you this choice will ultimately matter to you, too.