Good news: Joe Kennedy has decided not to run for Senate. Even if you put aside all the Chavez stuff, there was something profoundly undemocratic about the Kennedys treating that Senate seat as a family heirloom. As the Globe reports in its subhead, with Kennedy out of the picture, the "race is on." I'm still putting my money on Martha Coakley, especially if Lynch, Markey, and Capuano all run--thus making the women's vote that much more powerful in a Democratic primary. One interesting sidenote: A friend of mine went to a big health care reform rally yesterday on Boston Common and told me that Stephen Lynch (who, along with Coakley and Capuano and Markey, addressed the gathering) was essentially booed off the stage, owing to his refusal to embrace to the public option. Tough crowd.