Now that it seems that John Kerry will be chosen for one of the most prestigious offices in the Cabinet, we Massachusetts Kossacks will once again have to fight against the slimy Scott Brown who has a chance to wiggle back into the Senate. Lawrence O'Donnell says that Congressman Ed Markey will run, and having met Markey myself once and looking at his long and esteemed record, he can beat Brown and he would be an upgrade to Kerry(who despite a fairly liberal voting record has voted for the Patriot Act, only has a 53% rating form the LCV, and there was Kerry's hawkish foreign policy votes) and be a worthy progressive partner to Elizabeth Warren.
Markey is very strong on environmental issues, something that is desperately needed in the Senate. He voted no to offshore drilling in places like New England and California. He votes yes to enforcing carbon dioxide limits as part of ACES. He voted yes on preventing Yucca Mountain from becoming a nuclear waste dump. He has also received an 100% rating from the League of Conservation Voters. Markey knows that climate change is real, and that superstorm Sandy was evidence of it being imminent. Markey was also a co-author of ACES itself.
Ed Markey is also pro-choice and got an 100% rating from NARAL in the 2012 election cycle. Markey also has a great record on civil rights issues, getting an 87% rating from the ACLU and an 100% rating from the Human Rights Campaign. He has got an 100% rating from the NAACP. He voted yes to ENDA. Voted no to making the Patriot Act permanent. Markey also urged a no vote on CISPA.
The only vote that I would take issue with as far as Markey goes is that he voted yes to the Iraq War in 2002. Because otherwise, Markey has an awesome record on health care, immigration, and with the exception of voting for NAFTA, a good record on trade.
Markey first went to Congress by winning a seven-way primary, so he knows how to fight and win. O'Donnell mentioned that Markey has about $3 Million cash on hand while Brown has less than $500k cash on hand(although Wall Street will likely fund him what he needs). Markey also won't take a vacation when he should be campaigning in a special election(Coakley's most unforgivable mistake IMHO), and he would likely prepare for any Red Sox questions so he won't mistakenly think that a star Red Sox pitcher is on the fucking New York Yankees. (Sorry I strongly hate the Yankees). I have no doubt that Markey will be able to excite the activist base, and Markey will steamroll Brown in any debate. We in Massachusetts learned to take nothing for granted, and I plan to work very hard for Markey once he announces that he wants to run in the special election.