BOSTON – Paul Kirk, a former Democratic national committee chairman and a close friend of the late senator Edward Kennedy, was named yesterday as his temporary replacement.
Mr Kirk, a lawyer backed for the post by Kennedy’s wife Victoria and his two sons, will fill the seat until voters in Massachusetts elect a permanent replacement on January 20th.
The appointment will restore the Democrats’ 60-seat Senate majority and could help US president Barack Obama’s push to overhaul healthcare. Mr Obama called Mr Kirk “an excellent interim choice” to give his state its full representation in the Senate.
Mr Kirk was Kennedy’s special assistant in the 1970s and remains close to his family. – (Reuters)