Democratic Establishment Voices Support for Markey\'s Bid to Succeed Kerry

The Democratic ranks are closing behind Representative Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts in the race to succeed Senator John Kerry, who hopes to become Secretary of State.

The race is shaping up with unusual speed, considering that Mr. Kerry has not yet vacated the seat, and Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts has yet to set a date for a special election.

But several big guns in the Democratic Party began on Friday to line up behind Mr. Markey, who declared his c andidacy Thursday in a race that was expected to be crowded with wanna-bes.

The first to issue a statement was Mr. Kerry.

“While I began last week to formally step out of politics and it's very important that I respect the apolitical nature of the post I hope to soon occupy, as Massachusetts' senior senator today and as a colleague of Ed Markey's for 28 years, I'm excited to learn of and support his decision to run for the United States Senate,'' the statement said.

It avoided the word “endorse” but was clearly intended to send a signal that Mr. Kerry was supporting Mr. Markey.

Victoria Reggie Kennedy, the widow of Senator Edward M. Kennedy, then endorsed Mr. Markey, saying in a statement, “He knows how to get things done.”

Mrs. Kennedy is said to be interested in being appointed interim Senator until the winner of the special election is declared, but she did not mention this in her statement.

Her s tatement was followed by one from Senator Michael Bennet, chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, in favor of Mr. Markey.

“At a time when the country needs real leadership that looks out for the middle class, Ed Markey always remembers where he came from and will continue the hard work needed to turn our economy around,” Mr. Bennet wrote.

Mr. Markey, 66, is the dean of the Massachusetts Congressional delegation and was first elected to the House in 1976. The other most likely candidates are also members of Congress: Stephen Lynch and Michael Capuano.

The Democrats appear to be trying to head off a potentially bruising primary and save their money for the special election. Their most likely Republican opponent is Massachusetts' other outgoing senator, Scott Brown.

Mr. Brown, who lost his seat last month to Elizabeth Warren, has not said yet whether he intends to run again this time. But he is presumed to be a formidable candidate; he is certainly the best known in the field, now that a couple of high-profile Democrats have said they are not interested. They include Edward M. Kennedy Jr., the late Senator's son, and Ben Affleck, the actor.

Representative Niki Tsongas, the widow of another senator, has also said that she will not run. So has Martha Coakley, the state attorney general, who lost a special election to Mr. Brown in 2010.

Mr. Markey, the son of a milkman, has $3 million in his campaign account. He ranks ninth in seniority in the House.

Follow Katharine Q. Seelye on Twitter at @kseelye.

Lawmakers Suggest New Rules to Speed Up Senate Business

A bipartisan group of eight senators on Friday proposed a detailed set of Senate rule changes that could speed the legislative process considerably but would stop short of the most dramatic changes to the filibuster that some Democrats are demanding.

Under the proposed changes, the minority party in the Senate could no longer filibuster motions to take up bills for debate or to convene formal negotiations with the House on Senate-passed legislation.

The new rules would also make clear that if no senator is on the floor to mount a filibuster, the senator presiding over the Senate could immediately move to a vote on the pending matter. That, the advocates say, would put an end to the current practice of mounting filibusters without even showing up on the Senate floor.

For the minority party, the new rules would also guarantee at least four amendments on every bill, two for the Republicans and two for the Democrats.

“What we're proposing on a biparti san basis is a way to end the major sources of gridlock around here,” said Senator Carl Levin, Democrat of Michigan, who, along with Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, unveiled the plan.

It is not clear whether the proposal will win over the young Democratic senators pressing for more sweeping changes. One of those senators, Jeff Merkley of Oregon, said Senate Democrats had a “very healthy debate” on Friday in a closed-door lunch dedicated to the rules-change debate. He continued to insist that any new rules include a measure that forces senators wishing to filibuster a bill to stand and talk until the body is worn down, a scenario captured in the classic movie, “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.”

“It's extremely important any package have the talking filibuster in it,” he said.

But to make that change, Democrats on Jan. 3 would have to pull what supporters call the “constitutional option” and what others in both parties call the “nuclear option” â€" forcing the change with a simple 51-vote majority by overruling the parliamentarian when he rules the changes out of order. By tradition, Senate rules changes take 67 votes to enact.

Mr. Merkley and Senator Tom Udall, Democrat of New Mexico, said the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, will have 51 Democrats if he wants to force the issue. But Mr. Levin raised serious doubts about that.

“A number of us are deeply troubled that we would do something that would break the rules,” he said.

Under the bipartisan proposal, some of the most dilatory procedures of the last two years â€" like filibustering even efforts to take up bills â€" would end. Many more presidential nominees would be put on an expedited calendar, and even the 448 remaining on the traditional route to confirmation would face a shorter path.

And the eight advocates of the proposal said their rules would effectively bring back the stand ing filibuster by ending the custom in which objections to consent agreements can be lodged with a phone call to a senator nearby. Now filibusters would have to be on the floor to stop the presiding officer from calling a snap vote.

Q&A: Going Deeper Into FileVault

Q.

Does Apple's FileVault security program for Mac OS X encrypt just the Home folder or the whole drive?

A.

FileVault's abilities depend on the version you are using. The FileVault encryption feature has been around since Mac OS X 10.3,M, also known as Panther, which was released in 2003, but FileVault has evolved over the years. More recent versions of the system - OS X 10.7, nicknamed Lion, and OS X 10.8, Mountain Lion - use an updated version of the software, FileVault 2.

While the original version of FileVault just encrypted the contents of the user's Home folder, the newer FileVault 2 encrypts the entire disk, and can take advantage of the faster Intel processors in newer Macs to make the encryption/decryption time quicker. FileVault 2 also supports incremental backup and recovery with Apple's built-in Time Machine backup software and offers a user recovery key in case the FileVault 2 password is forgotten. You have the option of storing the recovery key with Apple, which encrypts the key and will unlock it only if three security questions you previously provided are answered successfully.

While faster and more versatile than the original version, FileVault 2 has had some issues, including a password bug earlier this year that has since been fixed. Apple has instructions for setting up FileVault 2 that further explain how it works. The Macworld site has an extensive guide to using FileVault 2 as well if you want more information before you decide if you want to use this optional feature of OS X.

App Smart Extra: The Melodies Linger On

Streaming music, and streaming “radio” apps like Pandora and Spotify, were the topics of this week's App Smart column. They let you listen to music you do not necessarily have in your own collection. They can also be an excellent way to break out of a musical rut and discover new sounds.

Here is another app that you may like: ooTunes ($5 on iOS). It behaves like a very clever access point to a huge list of online radio stations, among which you may well find music you would like to hear. I love the Radio RooLette function, which takes you to a random selection of tracks. The Lyrics option is nice too, because I bet that you, like me, often wonder what the heck a singer just said.

The app's “Similar” function also does a surprisingly good job of suggesting similar music; clicking on this while listening to some holiday tunes by Andy Williams led me to Bobby Vee's “Christmas Vacation,” for example. But from the point it delivers the list, it's a bit o f potluck to see if those tracks are being played somewhere on the radio now, or can be found on YouTube. Unfortunately this app had flaky audio quality for me several times, even though I'm on a superfast Wi-Fi broadband connection. Also, its interface is far from being highly polished. But at least it's not expensive, and it comes with bonus powers to record the tracks and act as a radio alarm clock.

Don't forget that these kinds of apps can also help you identify music you haven't heard before when listening from a more conventional source, like over a store's speaker system, or on a friend's radio. Shazam (free on iTunes and Android) is my favorite app for doing this; you simply run it and let it “listen” to the music. It then does a clever pattern-matching to identify the song, and presents you with a page crammed with data like the name of the artist, information about tours, a link to YouTube and, in the iOS edition, the “artist's popular songs” on iTune s. Clicking on this last option is, of course, a great way to listen to more of the music that has just attracted your ear. Finally, the app's “Discover” tab helps you find new music by showing the popular tracks people are listening to and identifying with Shazam.

Quick Call

The popular social music app maker Smule has a new, free iOS app out, Strum. It is a little like Instagram, but is all about sharing video clips on a social network. Unlike other, similar apps, Strum applies both video and audio filters - to the extent of composing new music for you, or editing the audio and video of your clips to make them look and sound as if you're rapping.