No more Kennedys? Family mulls a political comeback

• Joseph P Kennedy III may stand in Massachusetts
• 29-year-old could boost ailing Democrats in state

Ewen MacAskill, Washington guardian.co.uk, Sunday 28 February 2010 20.42 GMT Article history

Reports of the end of the Kennedy era may turn out to be have been premature amid signs that one of the younger members of the clan is mulling over whether to stand for Congress at the end of the year.

An unbroken run that had seen a Kennedy in Congress since 1947 looked to be coming to an end with the death last year of Senator Ted Kennedy and the recent decision of representative Patrick J Kennedy not to seek re-election in November's mid-term elections.

But a new Kennedy is emerging. The latest, and the one most keen to maintain the family legacy, is Joseph P Kennedy III, grandson of Robert Kennedy and son of former Congressman Joseph P Kennedy II. He is the great-grandson of patriarch Joe, the multimillionaire whose ambition for his family was the driving force behind the eventual clan political dominance in Massachusetts and nationwide.

The 29-year-old Harvard law school graduate is a former member of the Peace Corps and an assistant district attorney in Massachusetts, with an office close to the family compound on Cape Cod.

According to reports, discussions are being held in private among Democrats and the Kennedy clan in Massachusetts about whether he should stand for office in the 10th district and how this could be choreographed. The incumbent, Representative William Delahunt, is widely expected to announce he will not stand for re-election in November.

Delahunt has several times over the last few years been reported to have lost interest in politics, and he, like other Democrats who have decided not to stand again, may not fancy his chances this year in the face of anti-Democratic sentiment.

One option under discussion is for Delahunt to combine his announcement with an endorsement of Kennedy. However, Kennedy may delay his entry into politics until the prospects for Democrats are more favourable. If he stands, his name alone will attract the attention of Tea Party activists and other rightwingers intent on a Kennedy scalp.

The Republican Scott Brown won a shock victory in Massachusetts in January and the state can no longer be regarded as a safe bet, even for a Kennedy. He could not even be sure of getting the Democratic nomination unopposed.

But given the prominence of the Kennedy name and the family's historical hold on Massachusetts, Kennedy would immediately be the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination. One hopeful, Massachusetts state senator Robert O'Leary, told the Boston Globe: "If Kennedy enters the race, it makes it more difficult. But it would not change my decision."