Democrats Fear Return of Scott Brown, Search for Senate Candidate to Replace John Kerry After Nomination as Secretary of State

Now that President Obama has officially nominated Senator John Kerry as Secretary of State, following the imminent departure of Hillary Clinton, Massachusetts Democrats are scrambling to find a replacement for Kerry.

Under Massachusetts law, once Kerry resigns to take over the State Department, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick must appoint an interim senator.

However, that appointment is short-term, as Patrick must also set a date for a special election to fill the Senate seat somewhere between 145 and 160 days after Kerry's resignation.

Clinton has said she'll step down as Secretary of State sometime soon after Obama's inauguration in late January. It's likely that Kerry would resign before Clinton, so there's no gap between their tenures at the State Department.

That puts the special election right around the end if June.

And unfortunately for the Democrats, the only candidate with prominent statewide support is Scott Brown.

That would be the Scott Brown who won his current seat in the Senate in 2009, during a similar special election after the death of longtime Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy.

Democrats ran a terrible race that year, and candidate Martha Coakley fumbled her campaign, losing to Brown in an upset.

This year, Harvard professor Elizabeth Warren beat Brown in his reelection bid in a bitterly fought and expensive campaign.

Warren will be replacing Brown early next year, but he has not ruled out another attempt at the Senate.

Indeed, polls show that voters believe he is the most likely candidate to win the special election. His favorability ratings are high, and his ground game and campaign network are still in place from the recent election.

It's hard to imagine any Democratic candidate who could compete with him, but the party is trying.

Already, Ted Kennedy, Jr., son of the late Senator, has ruled out a run, saying that he would prefer to run for office in his current home state of Connecticut.

Actor Ben Affleck, who grew up in Cambridge, was also floated as a possible candidate, but he has declined.

So far, the Democrats' best hopes are current representatives Mike Capuano, Stephen Lynch and Ed Markey, all of whom are popular in their relatively urban districts but are relatively unknown across the state, especially in rural and western areas that favor Brown.