IT GIVES US PAIN, BUT WE MUST DO IT - AT 8:20 A.M. ET:  Praise a New York Times editorial, that is.  There's a political drama developing in Massachusetts that's gotten remarkable little attention, considering the personalities and stakes involved.

Senator Ted Kennedy, as we all know, is critically ill, and of course we wish him well.  However, he is still functioning, and thinking politically.  He's now proposed that, in the event of a Senate vacancy, the current Massachusetts system requiring a special election to fill the seat be dropped, and the governor of the state given the authority to appoint an interim senator.

No way.  Previously, Kennedy was on the other side.  When his Senate colleague from Massachusetts, John Kerry, ran for president in 2004, the governor was a Republican, Mitt Romney.  Kennedy, hoping for Kerry's election, backed a measure to change the system then in place, which allowed a gubernatorial appointment to fill the seat, to a requirement for a special election.  The measure passed the Massachusetts legislature.

Now that the governor is a Democrat, Deval Patrick, Kennedy wants to switch back to the old system.  Even The New York Times realizes how outrageous that is:

Massachusetts governors used to fill Senate vacancies. But in 2004, the Democratic majority in the State Legislature changed the law to require a special election. The leaders were concerned that if Senator John Kerry was elected president, Gov. Mitt Romney would appoint a fellow Republican. To change back now would look like an unseemly amount of partisanship in setting the rules for who goes to Congress.

Special elections put the power where it should be in a democracy — with the people. Too many senators today are selected in elections of one, with the governor casting the only vote. New York just went through this in filling Hillary Clinton’s seat, Delaware in filling Joe Biden’s seat, and Illinois in the disastrous process of filling Barack Obama’s seat, which contributed to the impeachment of Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

COMMENT:  All right, New York Times Editorial Board, you did good.  But, oh, it's so rare.

Savor the moment.

August 25, 2009