Teddy never liked the fact that Bubba was getting more than he was.
Ted Kennedy embraces Obama
By: Mike Allen and Carrie Budoff Brown
POLITICO
January 27, 2008 04:38 PM EST
Rejecting a personal entreaty from President Bill Clinton, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) plans to endorse Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) for president in a joint appearance on Monday, Democratic sources said.
The embrace provides a dramatic rocket for Obama to ride into the frantic, nationwide campaigning ahead of the spate of Super Tuesday primaries on Feb. 5, the biggest day for nominating contests in U.S. history. Caroline Kennedy, the senator's niece and the daughter of President John F. Kennedy, will also appear at the rally, the sources said.
Democrats said the endorsement will help Obama with traditional Democratic groups where Clinton has been strong — union households, Hispanics and downscale workers.
Also, the nod by the most experienced member of the Senate adds significant standing to Obama, who is working to prove he has the experience necessary to be president.
The announcement stunned Senate colleagues, who had expected Kennedy to remain neutral until the increasingly vitriolic nominating contest with Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) settled out.
"This is the biggest Democratic endorsement Obama could possibly get short of Bill Clinton," said a high-level Democrat.
The Clinton campaign launched a last-ditch effort over the last few days to stop Kennedy's move, orchestrating a flood of phone calls to Kennedy from sources ranging from union chiefs to his Massachusetts constituents.
The former president also called Kennedy in a vain attempt to keep him out of the race, a source familiar with the conversation said.
During his two terms in the White House, President Clinton made repeated overtures to the Kennedy family. So the senator's rejection of his wife is at least as embarrassing as her 28-point loss in the South Carolina primary on Saturday.
Kennedy is set to appear with Obama at the "Stand for Change" rally the campaign is holding at American University in Washington, D.C., at lunchtime on Monday, the sources said.
For months, former aides to President John F. Kennedy and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy showered praise on Obama, describing him as the heir to the Kennedy mantle.
But when Politico reviewed the Kennedy family's endorsements and campaign contributions in December, reporters found a house divided.
A tangle of longstanding political ties, friendships and gut feelings caused the Kennedys and those closely identified with them to scatter across the primary field.
Old hands to President Kennedy and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy came out for Obama, in part because he reminded them of the charismatic brothers. One of the former advisers, Harris Wofford, said Obama "touches my soul."
"For me, no one has done that since John, Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King," Wofford said in December. "I waited a long time to have that feeling."
But Hillary Rodham Clinton picked up more direct support. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend and her sister, Kerry, have hit the trail for her. The Kennedy family, including Caroline Kennedy and her husband, Edwin, had sent more than $15,000 to Clinton. (Obama had received more than $9,000 from family members.)
Eunice Kennedy Shriver and a half-dozen other family members put money on Sen. Christopher Dodd, who is very close with Sen. Edward M. Kennedy and has known the family for decades.
With Dodd out of the race, the constraints for Sen. Kennedy had likely diminished.
Word of Kennedy's planned endorsement leaked the same day that his niece, Caroline Kennedy, endorsed Obama with a New York Times Op-Ed headlined, "A President Like My Father: Obama will inspire a new generation of Americans."
"I have never had a president who inspired me the way people tell me that my father inspired them. 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," she wrote.
The Kennedy endorsement is likely to give Obama a lift among Hispanic voters because of Kennedy's passionate advocacy of immigration legislation. The Obama campaign, which lags far behind Clinton among Hispanic voters in national polls, is likely to prominently display the endorsements by both Kennedys in Latino communities.
The disclosure also comes the same weekend that the House's highest-ranking Latino, California Rep. Xavier Becerra, also announced that he is backing Obama.
Obama was coy about the upcoming endorsement when ABC's George Stephanopoulos asked him about it on "This Week."
"I'll let Ted Kennedy speak for himself," Obama said. "And nobody does it better. But obviously, any of the Democratic candidates would love to have Ted Kennedy's support. And we have certainly actively sought it."
The Republican National Committee piled on, issuing a statement saying: "Senator Kennedy's rejection of his friend and colleague is a stunning blow to Clinton's campaign."
Clinton aides today downplayed the significance of the endorsement.
"She has a great deal of respect for Sen. Kennedy and is very proud of all the endorsements she's received from her Senate colleagues," said Doug Hattaway, a Clinton spokesman. "At the end of the day, the voters are going to choose a candidate on their merits, not on their endorsements."
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