With Joe Kennedy Out, It's Game On In Massachusetts

Goofy moderate running for Senate booed by health care supporters in Boston

As we mentioned yesterday, the race for Massachusett's Senate seat looks like it will pit a wishy-washy moderate-- Rep Stephen Lynch-- against a Kennedy-style crusading progressive-- right now the state's Attorney General, Martha Coakley, although it's possible that one or more liberal congressmen may jump in now that Kennedy has taken himself out of the race.

“Given all that my uncle accomplished, it was only natural to consider getting back involved in public office, and I appreciate all the calls of support and friendship that have poured in,” Mr. Kennedy, the son of the late Robert F. Kennedy, said in his statement, which was posted on the Citizens Energy Web site Monday afternoon.

“My father called politics an honorable profession, and I have profound respect for those who choose to advance the causes of social and economic justice in elective office. After much consideration, I have decided that the best way for me to contribute to those causes is by continuing my work at Citizens Energy Corporation.”

Lynch is the least progressive of Massachusett's congressional delegation. His hope is that enough liberals will jump in and divide up the vote that he'll be able to slip into the nomination. Reading Grandma Susie's diary at Kos today makes one wonder though. She reports on a Labor Day health care rally on the Boston Common. This wasn't a teabagger-friendly gathering and it was very supportive of meaningful health care reform.

Representatives Tierney and Capuano, both of whom are among the 65 Democratic health care heroes who have pledged not to support any bill that does not contain a robust public option, gave outstanding speeches, strongly supporting a public option.  Representative Capuano also supported single payer in his speech.  Both were enthusiastically cheered.  Then came Representative Lynch, who has been singularly unenthusiastic about public option.  He started talking vaguely about "universal care".  Suddenly, the crowd came to life.  These very proper Bostonians, median age probably somewhere between 50 and 60, started chanting "public option" over and over again.  Nobody there could doubt why all those people had come out on a beautiful Labor Day when we all would rather have been doing something else.  Representative Lynch cut his speech short.

Watch Bostonians telling Lynch what they think of his waffling and bullshit: