Democrats Set to Fill Kennedy’s Senate Seat, Sooner or Later

This Suffolk University poll brings a little reality back to the question of the late Sen. Ted Kennedy’s (D-Mass.) open Senate seat. Three main findings:

1) After weeks of silly speculation about the chances of Red Sox hero Curt Schilling, an independent who backed George W. Bush and John McCain for president, it seems that Schilling has no real chance at the seat — voters disapprove of him by a 39-29 margin.

2) Voters are comfortable with the idea of changing state law (changed by Democrats first in 2004) to allow an interim senator to fill Kennedy’s seat until the January special election. Fifty-five percent of them back the idea; 41 percent oppose it.

3) Martha Coakley, the popular state attorney general first elected in 2006, is the odds-on favorite to win the election in January. She leads her closest Democratic primary rival, Rep. Michael Capuano (D-Mass.), by 38 points, and she leads likely Republican candidate Scott Brown, a state senator, by 30 points.