BOSTON | Massachusetts Democrats insist Sen. Scott Brown is vulnerable in next year’s elections, arguing the surprise winner last year of the seat long held by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy has compiled such an uninspiring voting record that both Democrats and conservative Republicans will be gunning for him in 2012.

Despite the brave talk, state Democrats are having the hardest time recruiting a major candidate willing to take him on.

The Kennedy clan has taken a pass - Vicki Kennedy, the senator’s widow, is not interested, and former Rep. Joe Kennedy has suggested that he won’t be tossing his hat into the ring. The state’s top Democrat, Gov. Deval Patrick, also appears unwilling to enter the race...

A former Boston Herald columnist says Senator-elect Scott Brown's triumph last night in Massachusetts will create a political "sea change" across the nation.

Democrats nationwide are reeling after Republican Scott Brown's historic election victory over Martha Coakley to fill the Massachusetts Senate seat once held by Ted Kennedy. Brown won by more than 100,000 votes in a state where Democrats control every constitutional office from governor on down, four-fifths of each branch of the state legislature, and -- up until last night -- the state's entire congressional delegation.

Conservative commentator Don Feder was a syndicated columnist at the Boston Herald for 19 years. He says it is hard to overstate the significance of Brown's win, both in Massachusetts and nationally...

Boston (AP) - The race to succeed the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy has turned into a proxy battle over the fate of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.

A once-pedestrian contest between Democrat Martha Coakley and Republican Scott Brown has coarsened with a week to go, as the two have cast themselves as custodians of the pivotal Senate vote to determine the bill's fate.

"As the 41st senator, I can stop it," Brown said last week during a debate, highlighting his potential to be the breakthrough Senate vote that upholds a GOP filibuster. While he opposes the bill, the state senator voted in 2006 in favor of a Massachusetts universal health care bill that has largely been the model for the Obama legislation.

The stakes are so high Democrats won't rule out taking as long as a month to certify the election results -- should Brown win -- to prevent a Republican from assuming the seat until the Senate completes its work on Kennedy's hallmark legislation...

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick has chosen one of the late Sen. Ted Kennedy’s closest friends and advisers, Paul G. Kirk, Jr., to temporarily fill the Senate seat left vacant by his death.

Kirk, a former Democratic Party chairman, paid tribute to Kennedy Thursday at a State House press conference announcing his appointment, by saying that he would be a “voice and vote” for the former senator’s causes and constituents...

Former Bush Chief of Staff Andy Card is “seriously considering” a bid for the open Massachusetts Senate seat, according to a close friend and adviser.

Card is meeting Wednesday night with Bay State Republicans at their regular committee meeting in suburban Boston, said Ron Kaufman, Massachusetts Republican committeeman and a longtime associate of the former top Bush aide.

Kaufman said Card is being pushed by state Republicans to consider the special election to replace the late former Sen. Ted Kennedy and will likely decide by this weekend...

WASHINGTON – Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says that Sen. Tom Harkin — a progressive liberal and ardent supporter of President Barack Obama's plan to create a public insurance plan — will take over the health and education committee.

Harkin will step down from his job as chairman of the agriculture committee, handing the gavel to Sen. Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas.

Sen. Christopher Dodd was next in line to become chairman of the health panel after Sen. Ted Kennedy's death last month. But Dodd turned down the job so he could remain head of the banking committee.

Mexico will soon bestow its highest honor upon liberal Sen. Edward Kennedy
(D-Mass.) for his work in “defending the rights of immigrants.” The
Mexican government announced last Friday that it intends to present Kennedy with
the Order of the Aztec Eagle.