As Kathyrn noted earlier, Sen. Ted Kennedy has sent a letter to Massachusetts political leaders asking them to change state law to allow his seat to be quickly filled should he be unable to finish his term:

I am now writing to you about an issue that concerns me deeply — the continuity of representation for Massachusetts should a Senate vacancy occur. In 2004, as you know, the law was changed to provide for a special election to choose a new Senator to serve for the remainder of an unexpired term. The law now mandates that the special election be held 145 to 160 days after a Senate seat becomes vacant. I strongly support the law and the principle that the people should elect their Senator; I also believe it is vital for this Commonwealth to have two voices speaking for the needs of its citizens and two votes in the Senate during the approximatley five months between a vacancy and an election.

Here’s some more on Senator Kennedy’s latest move:

As Perry Bacon Jr. notes in the Washington Post:

Though it does not articulate this, Kennedy’s letter seems an effort to assure that Democrats in the Senate are not missing a key Democratic vote should the longtime senator succumb to cancer in the middle of the debate on expanding health insurance, long one of Kennedy’s passions. Democrats have 60 votes in the Senate when Kennedy is able to participate and might need all of them if the chamber’s 40 Republicans unify to oppose health-care reform efforts.

The special-election law, however, is hardly ancient. As the Boston Phoenix observes:

As you may know, the state legislature changed the law on this back when they thought John Kerry was going to be President. Naturally, the last thing the state Dems wanted was for then-guv Romney to appoint the next US Senator — even temporarily – so they specifically made it so the seat would remain empty until an entire special election process played out.

The Boston Globe reports that the letter was drafted in July:

Kennedy aides said the senator never liked the five-month vacancy created by the 2004 law, but his dislike took on new urgency because Senate Democrats could need every vote possible on health care legislation.
The family confidant stressed that even with his deteriorating health, Kennedy continues to speak with staff and Senate colleagues. If his vote were needed, there exists every possibility he would fly to Washington again to cast it, Kennedy allies said.

Then again, as Rob Port writes at Say Anything:

I appreciate Ted Kennedy’s desire to see the people of Massachusetts represented by two Senators during the heated health care debate, but maybe he should have thought about as his health failed months ago. Kennedy has known that he was going to battling cancer for some time now. He’s also been in the Senate for, frankly, generations now. Maybe he should have stepped aside a while ago?
He didn’t, because like most of our political elite he just can’t let go of power. And now it appears as though he’s actually angling to name his own successor.
I know that it’s fashionable among some in the media elite to refer to the Kennedys as American royalty. Maybe Teddy has started to believe it.

You can watch WCVB-TV’s report from Boston here.