Daily Kos Elections Morning Digest: Patrick taps Cowan, and PPP finds a tossup in Massachusetts

Want the scoop on hot races around the country? Get the digest emailed to you each weekday morning. Sign up here. Leading Off:

' MA-Sen: With John Kerry now confirmed as Secretary of State, Dem Gov. Deval Patrick has selected his former chief of staff, Mo Cowan, to serve as Massachusetts' interim senator until a replacement is chosen in a special election in June. Cowan is a well-connected attorney who worked for Patrick for many years before returning to the private sector last November. He will become the second African American member of the Senate, along with Republican Tim Scott of South Carolina, who was appointed to fill a vacancy earlier this month. (This is the first time in American history that two black senators have served simultaneously.)

Many progressives had hoped Patrick might select ex-Rep. Barney Frank, who had openly lobbied for the job. But while Frank's personal advocacy may have displeased Patrick, I suspect he was more interested in appointing someone he had a personal relationship of trust with. What's more, Patrick had the opportunity to appoint someone young and who was, frankly, not another white guy career politician, and so he understandably seized it. In any event, Cowan said he would not run in the special (even though he is allowed to by law), saying that he is not a "candidate today or any time in the future." However, he's only 43 years old, so that's the kind of thing that could always change.

Meanwhile, PPP is out with their first poll of the election to succeed Kerry. In short, it contradicts all the Tom Menino-style anti-progressive "conventional wisdom" that seems to have congealed about this race. Not only is Ed Markey a stronger candidate against Scott Brown than Stephen Lynch, he also crushes Lynch in a hypothetical Democratic primary. Here are the numbers:

Brown: 48
Markey: 45

Brown: 48
Lynch: 39

Markey: 52
Lynch: 19

(continue reading below the fold)