Keller @ Large: What's Next For Brown, Romney, Patrick?
BOSTON (CBS) - As Robert Redford put it after winning his fictional Senate race in "The Candidate": What do we do now?
Let's start with Sen. Scott Brown, who gave a notably gracious and upbeat concession speech Tuesday night, and may well just keep right on running.
Check: Mass. Election Results
President Obama's re-election and Secretary of State Hilary Clinton's vow to step down early in his second term clears the way for the long-rumored appointment of Sen. John Kerry to that job, which he has coveted for many years.
Check: National Election Results
That would force Gov. Deval Patrick to call a special election next year to fill the balance of Kerry's term, and as Yogi Berra might say, it would be déjà vu all over again for Brown, whose political constraints are better served by a lower-turnout special election than by a Democrat tsunami election.
Under state law, Gov. Patrick would have the power to appoint a temporary replacement for Kerry while the campaign is held; allow me to start the speculation off with the name of former Gov. Michael Dukakis, who some felt was unfairly snubbed by Patrick when he appointed Kennedy family friend Paul Kirk under similar circumstances in 2009.
Would Brown do it?
Why not?
Luckily, he's a triathlete. If he ran, it would be his third Senate campaign in three years. If he won, he'd have to run a fourth time in 2014, when Kerry's term expires. Yeesh.
What does the future hold for Mitt Romney?
Somehow I suspect he won't go hungry. And if Ann Romney has anything to say about it, he'll be laying low for awhile.
Nonetheless, since we're in rank speculation mode, President Obama in the campaign's waning days, floated the idea of creating a cabinet-level secretary of business to help create jobs and cut red tape.
Wouldn't appointing Romney to that job be a unifying gesture? Then again, maybe not.
And one final pol's future to speculate about – Gov. Patrick.
It cannot go unnoticed that he has now presided over not just two remarkable electoral victories of his own, but was also a major factor behind Elizabeth Warren's big win and worked his heart out for the president's re-election campaign.
Quick, name a young star in the Democratic Party with more cache and political capital right now.
One warning though, gov – don't get too carried away with the Potomac fever.
Since John F. Kennedy's 1960 triumph, we are now 0-for-3 with Massachusetts presidential nominees.
You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. and 12:25 p.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.
