Nov 5, 2008 10:10 pm US/Eastern
What's Next For Kerry And Patrick?
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
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Sen. John Kerry talks with Gov. Deval Patrick during Game One of the NBA Finals at the TD Banknorth Garden June 5.
Elsa/Getty Images
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Sen. Barack Obama, Gov. Deval Patrick, Diane Patrick, Sen. John Kerry, Teresa Heinz Kerry celebrate during a rally at the World Trade Center Boston in February.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
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Lawrence Summers (file image)
AP
So what does Barack Obama's election mean to the political landscape of Massachusetts?
There could be big changes coming.
Secretary of State Kerry?As WBZ's Jon Keller
reported last week, Sen. John Kerry has been mentioned as a possible Secretary of State in an Obama administration.
"Kerry is on his short list,"
Keller said Wednesday.
"(He) was an early and enthusiastic supporter of Obama's, we'll see what happens."
After his re-election to the U.S. Senate Tuesday night, Kerry dismissed the talk as "speculation" but added he would "talk to the president if he called me and asked me about it."
Kerry, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, selected Obama to deliver the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston.
He also endorsed Obama's White House campaign just days after the Illinois senator suffered a potentially crippling loss to Hillary Rodham Clinton in the 2008 New Hampshire primary.
Kerry, 64, triggered speculation about his interest in serving as Secretary of State earlier this year, when he began defending Obama on foreign policy questions, both in interviews and op-ed pieces, and invited former British Prime Minister Tony Blair for a meeting at his vacation home on Nantucket.
If Kerry left the Senate for a cabinet post, a special election would be held - most likely in the spring, according to Keller.
On Wednesday, Gov. Deval Patrick said he would consider changing state law so he could appoint someone to fill a vacant U.S. Senate seat rather than having a special election.
Vacant House and Senate seats are now filled in a special election 145 to 160 days after an incumbent resigns. Patrick notes most other states let their governors fill them.
So who will go for Kerry's seat?
"Everybody and his brother runs," Keller said. "Because any elected official can go ahead and run for it without giving up their own seat. So several members of the Congressional delegation might jump in on that. It would be a free-for-all."
Gov. Deval Patrick's Status? Gov. Patrick, has also been mentioned as another potential Obama Cabinet member, maybe as Attorney General.
Both are black politicians with roots in Chicago who graduated from Harvard Law School.
They also share the same political consultant, David Axelrod, and supported each other as Patrick ran for governor in 2006 and Obama ran for the Senate in 2004 and president this year.
But Keller said Patrick is less likely than Kerry to leave.
"Gov. Patrick's name was apparently not on any short lists within the Obama transition team," he said. "Maybe Gov. Patrick means it when he says he isn't going."
Last week, Patrick gave his firmest denial yet, saying he expected a challenger when he ran for re-election in 2010.
Asked if that meant he would not take a job in Washington if Obama won, Patrick said, "That's what that means."
Summers To Treasury? Another local possibility in the Obama administration - former Harvard president Larry Summers. He has been mentioned as a possible Treasury secretary.
Summers had the job under President Bill Clinton.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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