The Boston Herald is reporting that no matter what the outcome of the January 19 special election to fill the Senate seat of the deceased Ted Kennedy, Democrats will still pass the Health Care legislation.

From the Herald:

It looks like the fix is in on national health-care reform - and it all may unfold on Beacon Hill.

At a business forum in Boston today, interim Sen. Paul Kirk (photo behind Kennedy) predicted that Congress would pass a health-care reform bill this month.

“We want to get this resolved before President Obama’s State of the Union address in early to mid-February,” Kirk told reporters at a Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce breakfast.

The longtime aide and confidant of the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, who was handpicked by Gov. Deval Patrick after a controversial legal change to hold Kennedy’s seat, vowed to vote for the bill even if Republican state Sen. Scott Brown, who opposes the health-care reform legislation, prevails in a Jan. 19 special election.

This smacks against precedent in the Bay State. In 2007, Rep. Nick Tsongas was sworn in two days after she had been elected in a special election for the seat of Rep. Martin Meehan. She was hurriedly sworn in to beat the threat of a Presidential veto by George Bush, ironically over expansion of the Children's State Health Insurance plan.

The delay is being pushed by both the Democrat-controlled Secretary of State's office, and from the office of Acting Senator Paul Kirk. Continuing:

Today, a spokesman for Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin... said certification of the Jan. 19 election by the Governor’s Council would take a while.

Another source told the Herald that Galvin’s office has said the election won’t be certified until Feb. 20 - well after the president’s address.

Since the U.S. Senate doesn’t meet again in formal session until Jan. 20, Bay State voters will have made their decision before a vote on health-care reform could be held. But Kirk and Galvin’s office said today a victorious Brown would be left in limbo.

The possibility of Democrat Martha Coakley being sworn in immediately if she prevails in the election, has been left open.