In the past few years the Democratic party has come up with a new tactic - when losing, change the rules of the contest. They tried this tactic in Florida in 2000, then with the Senate election in 2002, and now they are trying something similar in Massachusetts.
Last week Gov. Romney and Lt. Gov. Healey called on Senator Kerry to resign his Senate seat since he was not adequately representing the state, having missed almost 90% of Senate votes this year. Under the current Massachusetts law that has been in place for over 80 years, the Governor would appoint a Senator to fill out the term of a Senator who resigns. Since Romney is a Republican, he would obviously appoint a Republican to the vacated Senate seat, something the Democrats could not countenance. So, as the Boston Globe reports today, Massachusetts Democrats are trying to pass a new law that would require a special election instead of an appointment. By the way, Kerry was appointed to his Senate seat under the existing law by Michael Dukakis, after Paul Tsongas resigned due to illness. When the law worked in their favor, it was fine; now that it may work in the favor of Republicans, it needs to be changed.
CORRECTION(courtesy of Kerry Haters): Kerry was actually not appointed; he was elected in 1984 when Tsongas chose not to run.
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