For Cowan, Mass. Senate post a move into spotlight

BOSTON (AP) -- On Beacon Hill, William Maurice "Mo" Cowan is best known as the affable, bowtie-wearing private face of the Patrick administration.

Cowan has doled out legal advice as Gov. Deval Patrick's chief legal counsel and policy advice as chief of staff.

Now the 43-year-old North Carolina native is making the jump into the political spotlight.

On Wednesday, Patrick appointed Cowan to serve as interim senator to fill the seat being vacated by Democratic U.S. Sen. John Kerry.

For Cowan, who will become the state's second black U.S. Senator, the brief stint in the Capitol will mark the pinnacle of a rise through the state's legal and political landscape.

Cowan said his greatest inspiration was his mother. He described her Wednesday as a child of the segregated south who believed days like this were possible.