Massachusetts Senate Race: Will Democrats Delay Seating Scott Brown?

Jan. 17, 2010 — -- President Obama probably never thought he'd be in Massachusetts on Sunday night. But with Republican Scott Brown showing unexpected strength two days before the special election for Ted Kennedy's senate seat, Obama made a last-minute trip to Boston to headline a rally for Democrat Martha Coakley. A crowd of more than 1,000 at Northeastern University heard the president say, "I need you!"

Even before Obama scheduled his trip, however, campaign lawyers in both political parties had begun quietly cramming for the colossal legal battle that could ensue should Brown pull off a stunning upset in one of the nation's bluest states.

Republican lawyers fear that if Brown wins, Democrats will use stall tactics to delay certification of his victory till after the U.S. Senate casts its final vote on President Obama's healthcare bill.

That's because right now the interim senator appointed after Kennedy's death, Paul Kirk, could deliver President Obama the key 60th vote on the hotly contested health insurance reform plan.

"Both sides are going to be ready for a fight," said one election lawyer involved in the preparations, who discussed the effort on the condition he not be named.

Brian McNiff, a spokesman for Secretary of the Commonwealth William Francis Galvin, who is in charge of elections in Massachusetts, said attorneys in his office have been fielding a lot of calls from the two sides in recent days.

With so much riding on this vote, the White House and its GOP opponents have propelled the special election onto center stage. Both Republicans and Democrats have poured money into a race that Coakley once led in polls by as many as 30 points. During his briefing Friday, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said the election will be "a referendum on whose side you are on" in the healthcare battle.

The Democrats' chief concern is being prepared to try and hold the seat if the outcome is close. Recounts are much easier to mount if the margin of victory is less than half of one percent, according to state election rules.

Democrats are likely to be well prepared --- the lawyer for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is Marc Elias, who oversaw the Minnesota recount that led to Sen. Al Franken's victory.