A (somewhat) sobering morning roundup.

I'm still not 100% recovered from last night's developments.  The Markey withdrawal makes perfect sense - I never thought he was going to run anyway, a conviction that grew every day that he delayed - but the whole Card fiasco just baffles me. I can only think that the wave of negative reaction that greeted his potential candidacy (even from conservatives in Massachusetts) came as a surprise to him and scare him away.

In the short run, his withdrawal likely leaves Scott Brown as the establishment party candidate for the GOP (although we are still more than an hour away from his official announcement, so let's see if he defers to Michael Sullivan, Jack E. Robinson, or Bob Burr). In the long run, Brown's Democratic opponents are sure to feast on this video of Brown explaining why Card was a stronger candidate for the Senate. Brown called Card  "somebody who has no learning curve," and the man that "Lynch and Capuano used to go to when they didn't know how to do things."  Somehow I think those quotes are going to come back to haunt him.

On the Democratic side, the Markey withdrawal removes the state's longest serving Congressman and the potential field's leading money man from the race.  This is a boon probably for all three candidates.  For Capuano and Lynch, it means there is one fewer white, Democratic congressman in the race.  For Coakley, it means that Moakley and his warchest do not represent such a huge fundraising deficit.  I assume Lynch and Capuano will be quick now to make their campaigns official.

I have to get myself to this wedding now, so let's all cross our fingers that no other candidate news breaks for a while.

On to the morning roundup:

• Blue Mass Group sat down with Martha Coakley to discuss the Senate campaign.  (I haven't had a chance to watch this yet, may have some thoughts later.)
• The Globe sketches out the candidates positions on health care reform. 
• Red Mass notes that Brown has moved his announcement inside to the Parker House (same spot as Coakley) due to the forecast.  I am going to miss this when its live, but will have thoughts tonight (or more likely tomorrow morning).