Politics / Maria Shriver Hatch: Vicki 'Ought to Be Considered' Chris Dodd also supports making Ted Kennedy's widow interim senator By Nick McMaster, Newser Staff Posted Aug 30, 2009 10:53 AM CDT Copied U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, addresses the memorial service for U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass. at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library on Friday, Aug. 28, 2009 in Boston. (AP Photo/Stan Honda, Pool) Vicki Kennedy would be a good replacement for her late husband in the months before a special election to fill Ted Kennedy’s seat, Orrin Hatch told CNN’s State of the Union. “She’s a very brilliant lawyer, she’s a very solid individual,” Hatch said. “I think Vicki ought to be considered.” Chris Dodd also expressed his support for Vicki, but said he would “leave it up to her decision making process.” Elsewhere on the Sunday dial: Maria Shriver dismissed the notion that Ted Kennedy’s death meant the end of the Kennedy legacy. Her uncle had thought Barack Obama’s election placed the country “on the verge of seeing so many of his dreams realized,” Shriver told NBC's Meet the Press. Dodd also took the opportunity to rap some knuckles, calling for Obama to "step up and really frame" health care—and for his colleagues to grow up. "If you want to honor Teddy's memory," Dodd said, "start acting like senators again." (More Maria Shriver stories.) Report an error