What? A GOP senator in the Kennedy seat?

I was only five years old, growing up in suburban Boston, when John F. Kennedy took his seat in the U.S. Senate in 1953.

Ever since, except for a brief interregnum in 1961 and 1962 and since this September, either he or his brother, Ted, held that Senate seat.

And it goes without saying that the men who kept the seat warm in those brief non-Kennedy periods were Democrats.

That's why maybe I'm a little more stunned than most New Yorkers that Republican Scott Brown will take over that seat after his upset win over Democrat Martha Coakley yesterday to fill the remainder of the term of Ted Kennedy, who died last August.

After all, New York, where Democrats control all six statewide offices as well as 27 of the 29 House seats and both houses of the Legislature, looks positively bipartisan compared to Massachusetts.

There, all 10 House seats in the Bay State are held by Democrats, and the party has an overwhelming edge in both the state Senate (35-5) and House (142-16, with one independent.) The state has three times as many enrolled Democrats as Republicans. (The Dem margin in New York is about 5 to 3).

Six weeks ago, Coakley was up in polls by 30 points over Brown, a little known state senator from Wrenthan, a small community southwest of Boston. But in the wake of his five-point win, he will be the first Republican Massachusetts has sent to the Senate since Ed Brooke (also the first African-American elected to the Senate since Reconstruction ended) retired in 1979.

My mother was part of the old Main Street strain of Republicans, who combined with the Brahman elite in Massachusetts helped to elect many GOP governors and kept most statewide races tight. But that group has shrunk appreciably over the years, with more and more Bay State registered voters (more than half now) opting not to enroll in any political party.

I remember in the '60s that Republican John Volpe, who was elected to two terms as Massachusetts governor, used the slogan, "Vote the Man, Vote Volpe'' to overcome what was viewed as the handicap of being a Republican with voters. It worked.

The most breathtaking part of this is the speed in which party fortunes have changed. Just a year ago the phrase "Northeast Republican elected official'' (just trips off your tongue, doesn't it?) seemed about to disappear.

But with the economy still in the tank and deficits soaring, voters have seemed to already have forgotten that they blamed the GOP for the sorry state of affairs just 14 months ago.

Seems the voters are getting impatient, and that's a good break for the Republicans in New York, Massachusetts and elsewhere, who are suddenly competitive with Democrats again.

My mother would be pleased, but my Dad, a classic New Deal Democrat, would not be. And certainly there must be a few Kennedys spinning in their graves.