There's only one person big enough to fill Mike O'Pake's shoes

The local newspaper says the procedures for filling Mike O'Pake's Senate seat were not immediately clear, but the paper ventured a guess anyway:

Most likely, the Senate would ask for a special election to fill the vacancy.

The Democratic and Republican parties would select their candidates. Third-party candidates also could run.

(Underneath is this embarrassing link box. Doesn't a human keep an eye on these things?)

Anyway, what this means is that career politicians from both partries will line up, and the ones with the most  chits to cash will get the nods, and since third parties are allowed, we may see movement from The Rent Is Too Damn High people.

But who might these nominees be?

Commissioner Mark Scott would drool at the opportunity, but he apparently does not live in the district, but he might make the case that his home is his office. Perhaps Commissioner Kevin Bernhardt on the Democratic side, or more intriguing, ex-Commissioner Judy Schwank, who has cred as the most popular Berks pol behind O'Pake.

Councilwoman Donna Reed can lay claim to hailing from the same neighborhood as O'Pake and would bring the spark of continuity.

Would Tom Caltagirone want to move to the upper camber? Nah, too much seniority at stake.

Pundits can puzzle over the possibilities while quaffing New Year's eggnog, but I'm going to reveal the only clear, sane choice, and a bipartisan one as well.

i'm referring to the one, the only...Albert Boscov.

You snicker. Sure, Albee is 105 years old, but he would only be a placeholder senator, until O'Pake's term expires in two years and a full field can battle it out in the primaries. Boscov shares O'Pake's savvy in wringing as many bucks for Berks as he can from the Harrisburg teat, so the pork won't have to dry up. And Albee is very, very good at photo ops.

So there you have it, "Albert Boscov in 2011." Ed Rendell has already phoned in his endorsement.

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