"Ben" asks:

"Let's imagine for a second that Capuano takes the senate seat. Besides Joe Kennedy's son and Mike Ross, have you heard rumblings of anyone else laying tentative plans for the MA-8th?"

I haven't, but I have no doubt there are plenty of wheels spinning in people's heads. I've heard people say Somerville mayor Joe Curtatone could go for it.

"Joel" asks:

How many seats (if any) will the Mass GOP pick up in the legislature in 2010?

That is a great question. Quick wild-guess prediction: they gain one in the senate, and five in the house. In other words, not a huge comeback, but at least a step in the right direction.

They should gain a lot more, of course. The state is overflowing with disgust for the politicians under the golden dome -- which I don't think is based much on party, but the fact is the incumbents are all Democrats, so anti-incumbent mood has the same effect.

"K B" asks:

How does Khazei's $1.1 million raised by 9/30 affect the Senate race? And is there ANY way he can surmount the name-recognition barrier?

The first question really answers the latter: if this fundraising pace continues, then he can rapidly raise his name recognition.

It's not yet clear to me how impressive the $1.

Matt O'Malley is leaving his post as MassEquality's political director to join the Steve Pagliuca Senate campaign, as its state-wide field co-ordinator. A source in the Pagliuca campaign confirms that O'Malley will begin working for them immediately, while phasing out of his MassEquality position over the next week.

Enthusiasm from supporters was high this morning at the Martha Coakley press conference, where EMILY's List, the Massachusetts Women's Political Caucus (MWPC), and a bunch of female state legislators formally expressed their endorsement of the Attorney General in her campaign for the US Senate. Enthusiasm from the press was perhaps more tepid -- I counted only about a dozen journalists in the room.

--On September 1st, I predicted on Twitter and Facebook that Paul Kirk would be the temporary Senate appointee -- I believe I was the first to publicly float his name for it. The next day a Boston Phoenix editorial advocating Kirk for the position went online. (To the best of my knowledge, that was also the first place where the point was made that Kennedy's staff had ceased its constituent-services work, and a temporary appointment would allow them to re-start it.