Though Kennedy was trying to change that Massachusetts law when it was no longer a Republican governor in office. This is correct. In 2004 when Kerry ran for president, the MA Dems were afraid that the GOP governor Romney, would appoint a GOP senator to take over Kerry's seat, if Kerry unseated Bush -- so MA changed their laws, taking the power of senate appointment from the governor -- now the governor is a DEM, so it makes sense to the MA Dems to give the power back to the governor. Does anyone else think this coverage is just a little overblown? We've had presidents die that haven't gotten this kind of coverage. I don't get it. Quite frankly Ted Kennedy has had more overall impact on a national level than any of our recently departed presidents -- given that he served at the national level, for almost 50 years. Ford had a long career in congress, and when he lost the 1976 Presidental Election, pretty much retired. Reagan of course was the governor of CA, then served the entire country for 8 years -- and once his term expired, he stayed out of the spotlight. Ted Kennedy should have probably been the DEM candidate for president in 1980 -- as he was beating Carter pretty good in the polls, but then boned up his 60 minutes interview. Also, Kennedy is a sitting senator -- consequently, his death is more newsworthy, as MA will have to replace him in the senate. If he had been retired, there would be no impact to our current government.