They made their bed, let them lie in it

Massachusetts legislators changed the law about who gets to fill a vacant US Senatorial seat to prevent the Republican Governor from appointing a Republican. Now they want to change it back to make sure the seat is filled during the healthcare debate due to Senator Kennedy's health. [Link]

Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, terminally ill with brain cancer, has asked state legislative leaders to change the law and let Gov. Deval Patrick appoint a temporary replacement upon the senator’s death.
Under current law, the seat would be vacant until a special election could be held 145 to 160 days later. But Senator Kennedy, a 77-year-old Democrat, wrote in a letter to the governor and leaders of the legislature that he wanted Massachusetts to have full representation in the Senate during that five-month period.
Mr. Kennedy did not mention the issue in the letter, delivered Tuesday, but it is clear that Democratic votes will be crucial to passing the health care legislation that is the subject of intense Congressional debate. Mr. Kennedy has been a supporter of overhauling the health care system, but his absence from the debate and from public life in recent months has raised speculation that he will not be well enough to cast a vote when the time comes.
Should Mr. Kennedy resign or die before then, it is rather likely that, under current law, his seat would still be vacant when the bill came up for a vote.
Until 2004, state law called for the governor to appoint a temporary replacement if a Senate seat became vacant. But when Senator John Kerry, a Democrat, was running for president that year, the Democratic-controlled state legislature wanted to deny the governor at the time — Mitt Romney, a Republican — the power to name a successor if Mr. Kerry won.