Paul Kirk Cannot Legally Cast The 60th Vote For The Health Care Bill After Tuesday

Paul Kirk is the man appointed to fill the Senate seat vacated by Ted Kennedy by Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick until a special election could be held. Scott Brown and Martha Coakley are running in that special election to replace Kirk.

And it looks like, according to the law and Senate precedent, Kirk cannot be the 60th vote for the health care bill after Tuesday (despite his promise to cast such a vote regardless of the special election outcome). Which raises the already sky-high stakes in that Massachusetts race.

Appointed Senator Paul Kirk will lose his vote in the Senate after Tuesday’s election in Massachusetts of a new senator and cannot be the 60th vote for Democratic health care legislation, according to Republican attorneys. …

But in the days after the election, it is Kirk’s status that matters, not Brown’s. Massachusetts law says that an appointed senator remains in office “until election and qualification of the person duly elected to fill the vacancy.â€