RUN, KERRY, RUN! Though John Kerry could scarcely be less popular with Democratic voters, there's one group of Democrats that's keen to see him toss his hat into the presidential ring: Massachusetts politicians. It's not that they are out of touch with America. Far from it. They just want him to stop clogging up the local political system.
The problem, as it was recently described to me by a young local politico, is that both of Massachusetts' senators have been so long-serving. Kerry has been in office since 1985, and Ted Kennedy since 1962. That means that, for the past 20 years, no Massachusetts politicians holding lower-level offices have been able to move up and into Congress's upper house. The congressmen can't move up by running for Senate, because the Senate seats are both unassailably taken, and the state senators can't move up by running for Congress, because the congressmen have become so long-serving in their turn. Secure incumbency at the top has created stasis throughout the entire system, leaving young ambitious would-be pols to either wait for someone to retire or try to knock off long-time incumbents just to get to the statehouse. If Kerry would just move on, by trying to move up again himself, then Barney Frank, Ed Markey, Marty Meehan, and Steve Lynch could all potentially contend for his seat, and a domino effect could be unleashed across the system. For that to happen, though, the first domino has to fall, and Kerry has to run for president again.
So if you wonder who on earth is encouraging Kerry to take another crack at it, the answer has to include: Massachusetts politicians.
UPDATE: The Political Insider blog has more.
--Garance Franke-Ruta
