We won't know that answer for sure until a special election is held on January 19, 2010, although the Democratic primary on December 10 of this year will go a long way toward giving us a clue.

Rep. Ed Markey dropped out of the race today, joining the ranks of early frontrunner former Rep. Joe Kennedy, and leaving the Democrats with three main candidates: U.S. Reps. Steven Lynch and Michael Capuano and state Attorney General Martha Coakley. Both congressmen are prototypical Boston pols, Lynch is an old school pro-life Catholic liberal and Capuano holds Tip O'Neill's old seat, while Coakley has been elected statewide and, clearly, is a woman. It should be a barn burner.

On the Republican side, Chris Cilizza reports that it is former Bush 43 chief of staff Andrew Card's race to lose. Then to add a little more intrigue, Republican-leaning former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling (he of the 2004 World Series bloody sock fame) is considering a run as an independent. His views can pretty much be summed up as a dude's dude with a Christian outlook on things.

Life without a Kennedy in Massachusetts is a weird thing to think about it, but googling any one of the aforementioned candidates will help you picture it.