AP: Kirk likely tapped for Kennedy's seat

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By Glen Johnson ASSOCIATED PRESS

UPDATED:

BOSTON (AP) -- A Democratic aide says Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick will name former party chairman Paul Kirk to temporarily fill the late Sen. Edward Kennedy's seat.

The aide asked for anonymity to speak in advance of Patrick's formal announcement Thursday.

The appointment will let Kirk serve in the interim post until voters pick a replacement in a Jan. 19 special election. It also gives President Barack Obama a critical 60th U.S. Senate vote he needs to pass a health care overhaul.

Kirk served on Edward Kennedy's staff for eight years and is chairman of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation's board of directors. He also has been a registered lobbyist for pharmaceutical companies.

Kennedy's sons, Edward Kennedy Jr. and U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., both lobbied for Kirk in separate phone calls to the governor, according to a family confidant and a Patrick aide. The governor scheduled a late-morning news conference at the Statehouse to declare his choice, and aides would not rule out the attendance of Vicki Kennedy, the senator's widow, as a sign of the family's approval.

Kennedy died last month of brain cancer, and an appointee will serve until a permanent successor is chosen through a special election scheduled for Jan. 19. The appointment will restore a critical 60th Democratic vote in the U.S. Senate as President Barack Obama pushes to pass a health care overhaul that was Kennedy's life passion.

On Wednesday, the Massachusetts Legislature approved a bill allowing the governor to make an interim appointment after a contentious debate and a whirl of parliamentary maneuvering.

Patrick planned to send a letter to the secretary of state to declare an emergency, allowing him to override a legislative vote that defeated his administration's effort to make the bill take effect immediately. Normally, legislation faces a 90-day waiting period.