January 27, 2008, 7:01 pm
By Katharine Q. Seelye
News of Kennedy support for Senator Barack Obama has prompted the campaign of Senator Hillary Clinton to issue a reminder that it has support from Kennedys too.
While Caroline Kennedy announced her support for Mr. Obama today in The New York Times, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, brother of both John and Robert, is set to announce his support for Mr. Obama tomorrow.
The op-ed piece and the pending endorsement from Senator Kennedy have dominated the news today, and will be an important moment tomorrow when Ms. Kennedy and her uncle formally endorse Mr. Obama in person.
This afternoon, the Clinton campaign tried to claim some of the Kennedy magic by putting out a statement from Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, the daughter of Robert F. Kennedy, that she supported Mrs. Clinton.But Ms. Townsend, the former lieutenant governor of Maryland, had already publicly endorsed Mrs. Clinton, as had one of her brothers, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and one of their sisters, Kerry. Their father was once the junior senator from New York, the same position Mrs. Clinton holds today.
The afternoon statement was driven by the flurry of attention today to Ms. Kennedy’s op-ed piece in The Times and her uncle’s pending announcement. It looked as if the Clinton campaign, which had hoped Senator Kennedy would remain neutral, wanted to claim some of the Kennedy legacy — even if these endorsements do not bring with them the influence that Senator Kennedy could have within the Senate or among voters if he goes out on the campaign trail for Mr. Obama.
“I respect Caroline and Teddy’s decision but I have made a different choice,” Ms. Townsend said in her statement. “While I admire Senator Obama greatly, I have known Hillary Clinton for over 25 years and have seen first hand how she gets results.” She added: “She shares so many of the concerns of my father.”
In her op-ed piece today, entitled “A president like my father,” Caroline Kennedy also invoked her father’s legacy. “I have never had a president who inspired me the way people tell me that my father inspired them,” she wrote. “But for the first time, I believe I have found the man who could be that president — not just for me, but for a new generation of Americans.”
To be exact, Dec. 17:
Kennedy Family Split On Endorsements Like any other American family, the Kennedys are a house divided when it comes the 2008 presidential race.
Kathleen Kennedy Townsend and her sister, Kerry, have hit the trail for Hillary Rodham Clinton. So has their brother, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Old hands to President John F. Kennedy and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy dote on Barack Obama, in part because he reminds them of the charismatic brothers.
Eunice Kennedy Shriver and a half-dozen other family members put money on Christopher Dodd.
And everybody wants to know where Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) will go. Yet he isn’t talking - or likely to endorse.
A tangle of longstanding political ties, friendships and gut feelings has caused the Kennedys and those closely identified with them to scatter across the primary field. But the Democratic pursuit of their endorsements and their cash underline how the presidential candidates still chase the Kennedy imprimatur like it is their party’s seal of approval, automatically transferring warm feelings of the family’s legacy to them.
“There is certainly a romantic aspect to it,” said Eric Smith, a press aide to former Rep. Dick Gephardt during his 2004 presidential campaign, which picked up support that year from U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island. “That period in the Democratic Party is one of great optimism. It is one that Democratic activists think of very fondly. So an association with that time is a positive in the eyes of Democratic activists.”
Ted Kennedy is the biggest catch.
LOL!
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