The View From Prospect Hill for September 9

Former Congressman Joe Kennedy is not going to run for his recently deceased Uncle Teddy's seat in the U.S. Senate. That's a shame, because Joe was one of the good guys - a real nice person, who always remembered people. Not just names - that's easy - he remembered people. For example, Joe wouldn't see you in a year, but when he did, he would ask about your Aunt Gracie or how your kids were doing in school. That's classy. So Joe will continue his work with Citizen's Energy and enjoy life in obscurity - something Kennedy's really aren't all that used to. He won't have to jump back into the political bumping and grinding and overall frenzy the race to fill Ted's seat will bring. It's a shame, because he would have been a great Senator - but now that he is out, the floodgates are opening - and we will still win in Somerville, because Congressman (and Former Mayor) Mike Capuano will now make his move up. Senator Mike Capuano has a good ring to it. This will be his opportunity to take that explosively passionate personality and stand out - it really is difficult to be a Congressman - there are 434 other people to contend with every day and an election to run every two years. In the Senate, he will only have to deal with 99 other people and an election every six years. Much better work environment, for sure. So what happens next? Well, here's a scenario for you, that isn't too far fetched...just keep in mind what happened when State Senator Charlie Shannon passed away a few years back, and that will hopefully keep your attention. The special election gets underway and all Hell breaks loose. Everyone and his grandmother gets the call to help Mike Capuano and people scatter to the four ends of the Commonwealth. Capuano gets elected and takes the Senate seat, leaving now a hole in the House of Representatives, which will cause another special election for that seat. Echoes of the year of the never-ending elections already, don't you think? So then a special is called for the open seat in the 8th District. Then the fur really starts to fly. Mayors, State Senators and anyone with more than 15 seconds of fame and a couple of million burning a hole in their pockets will jump into the fray, including our own Mayor Joe Curtatone. So then Mayor Joe gets elected and takes over the Congressional seat, of course it's a double win-win with Capuano in the Senate. Now, you guessed it, there has to be a special election for Mayor of Somerville. We don't even want to begin to speculate about the horror show that would ensue, but the thought sure makes us chuckle.