Few Viable Dem Challengers for Scott Brown

He hasn't exactly been a staunch conservative since beating Martha Coakley, but then again, we're talking about a Republican in Massachusetts. So as the 2012 election cycle begins, the pickings are slim for Democrats looking to challenge Scott Brown.

Democrats claim to be licking their chops about taking on Brown, but it seems more likely that the Democrat with the short straw will get the task. Brown has amassed a war chest of $6 million, more than double Kerry’s.

Democrats may hope a Kennedy will step up in spite of their failure to recruit a family member for the special election. Vicki relocated to Boston and has been making public appearances. But flirting with a run and actually running are two different things. And it’s been surprisingly quiet on the Call-Joe-for-Oil front. A Joe K candidacy would be formidable, but it also would be plagued by his skeletons and questions about the $575,000 salary from his non-profit Citizens Energy Corp.

U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch says he’s staying put but has a $702,000 campaign account balance, and there’s U.S. Rep. Mike Capuano, but he has $144,000 cash on hand and $48,000 debt and lost last year’s primary. And don’t count on Gov. Deval Patrick to run like Bill Weld did in 1996. Remember, Deval got back into the Corner Office without a majority of votes.

In such a blue state, you would expect a greater pool of Democrat challengers. It seems one-party domination has not bred a great farm team for the future.

Democrats have to defend a couple dozen Senate seats in 2012. They have little hope of retaining their majority of they can't manage to win in Massachusetts.