Mass. Gov says Obama discussed Kennedy replacement

RICHMOND, Mass. — Gov. Deval Patrick said Friday that President Barack Obama had personally talked to him about changing the Senate succession law in Massachusetts, and White House aides were pushing for him to gain the power to temporarily replace the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy amid the administration's health care push.A month after a White House spokesman labeled the issue a state matter, Patrick said he and Obama spoke about changing the law as they both attended Kennedy's funeral in Boston last month. He also said White House aides have been in contact frequently ever since and pushing for the change so they can regain their filibuster-proof majority in the U.S. Senate."He and his whole team have been very clear about that," Patrick told reporters after holding a Cabinet meeting near his Berkshire Mountains vacation home."It's out there that the Senate president and the (House) speaker are tyring to figure out whether this can be accomplished, and he fully understands, as do his aides, who I have talked to more about it, the importance of having the support for a change agenda down in Washington," Patrick added.The governor spoke just moments after Republicans in the Massachusetts Senate temporarily blocked a bill allowing Patrick to name an interim appointment.Democrats changed the succession law in 2004 to create a five-month special election campaign and block then-Gov. Mitt Romney, a Republican, from naming a temporary replacement if Sen. John Kerry had won his presidential bid.To change the law now that there is a Democrat in the governor's office smacks of hypocrisy, the GOP says. The special election campaign is underway, with party primaries scheduled for Dec. 8 and the general election set for Jan. 19.Sen. Bruce E. Tarr, a Gloucester Republican who raised the objection, said he assumes Democratic leaders believe they have the votes to pass the bill, yet he still holds out hope enough Democrats may be swayed to vote against it."I think there is some doubt about the ultimate outcome. Clearly

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