Q&A #7: Women For Senate
"Kathleen" brings us back to the potential Senate special:
Do you see any women running for an open US Senate seat? Martha Coakley
has said no, and Niki Tsongas seems content in Congress. Anyone else on
your radar?
First of all, Coakley is still a very real possibility. Tsongas won't run if Marty Meehan does, but if he doesn't it's possible she could get talked into it.
US Attorney Carmen Ortiz is very much in the rumor mill. My guess is that one or two women with offices in the state house are at least allowing their people to make some discreet inquiries about their viability.
My sense is that, thanks to the E-Dubs victory, there's a lot less pressure for a woman on the Dem side, and less likelihood of women activists and fundraisers unifying behind one. (Also, a lot less pressure on John Kerry to support a woman to succeed him; a lot of the Barbara Lee/Therese Murray circles were pissed at him for backing Obama over Hillary Clinton.)
Meanwhile, don't forget Kerry Healey, who to my mind is the most likely of the "handful of big names" I alluded to in answer #5.