Don't Bet on Barney Frank for Senate

[Purveyor]

Barney Frank wants a shot at breaking up boring Senate quorum calls and sparring with Republicans over looming budget battles with a second political act as an interim senator from Massachusetts, but if he thinks he'll transform the upper chamber, he might want to think again. The five or six months of an interim term just isn't enough time to move legislative mountains.

Frank, known for his verbal lashings, acute political sense, and deep policy knowledge, said on Friday on Morning Joe that the fiscal-cliff debate that will continue over the next few months is, essentially, too significant to go on without him.

--CLIP
In Frank's case, it's far from certain that he would even get the nod because aides to Democratic Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick said he doesn't want to appoint a "luminary," The Boston Globe reported. Still, it's hard to argue that there is much more outspoken candidate than Frank.

"Barney would use it as a bully pulpit, and that's what he's really good at," Kaufman said.

MORE...

http://www.nationaljournal.com/politics/don-t-bet-on-barney-frank-for-senate-20130104

[Bluenorthwest]

1. What, I wonder, gives the author the impression that anyone thinks Frank could 'transform the

upper chamber'? I counter with this: if the author thinks he can transform reality by pretending his fantasy is what others actually think or was actually said, he might want to think again.

[frazzled]

2. Massachusetts needs a strong advocate during the next few months

as the deficit negotiations get down and dirty. What they don't need is a symbolic place keeper who can't represent the state's interests in these critical tax and spending talks. Frank has been at the forefront of these financial and budgetary issues for years. If I still lived in the Commonwealth, I would want him to be representing me for the next 5-6 months.