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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: John Carragher who wrote (236207)	1/28/2008 7:07:18 AM
From: Tom Clarke	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 794148

Ted boiling over bubba Reports: Kennedy clan rift over racial attacks on Obama By Jessica Van Sack \| Monday, January 28, 2008 Sen. Edward M. Kennedy’s endorsement of presidential hopeful Illinois Sen. Barack Obama reportedly came after mounting anger toward the Clintons over the racial overtones of campaign attacks against Obama. Quoting anonymous sources, both the Washington Post and New York Times [NYT] reported that Kennedy was frustrated with attacks on Obama by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, which he thought to be misleading. Sources confirmed Kennedy expressed his angst to Bill Clinton directly. According to the Post, the senior senator’s frustration boiled over Saturday when the former president sought to downplay Obama’s South Carolina win by comparing him to the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who won the Palmetto State in his long-shot 1984 and 1988 campaigns. In bracing for his wife’s South Carolina defeat at a rally in Columbia, S.C., Bill Clinton told a reporter, “Jesse Jackson won South Carolina in ’84 and ’88. Jackson ran a good campaign. And Obama ran a good campaign here.” Meanwhile, there is widespread speculation on the campaign trail that Bill Clinton will tone down his hatchet-man role in the campaign after weeks of being on the front lines. The senior Bay State senator’s nod for Obama today is an especially painful blow as it comes as Hillary Clinton is scheduled to campaign in Springfield, followed by a high-rolling Hub fund-raiser. Kennedy plans to campaign aggressively for Obama in the critical days leading up to the multistate Super Tuesday primary Feb. 5. The Obama campaign announced late last night that Kennedy will campaign for Obama today at American University in Washington, D.C., along with his niece Caroline Kennedy. The hotly contested Democratic contest has spawned a political family feud of sorts within the famous Kennedy clan, prompting the children of Sen. Kennedy’s slain brother, Robert Kennedy, to affirm their support for Clinton. “I respect Caroline and Teddy’s decision but I have made a different choice,” said Kathleen Kennedy Townsend in a statement released yesterday by the Clinton campaign after news of the senator’s endorsement was leaked. Townsend also noted her brother Robert, an avid environmentalist, and Mary Kerry, a human rights activist, endorsed the New York senator. Caroline Kennedy declared her support in a weekend New York Times op-ed, and in a state where devoted Irish-Catholics still dutifully keep portraits of JFK on their mantles, the late president’s daughter may be especially effective. “It’s a special kind of endorsement,” said Paul Watanabe, political science professor at the University of Massachusetts at Boston. The latest SurveyUSA poll shows Clinton with a tidy lead in the Bay State, running with 59 percent compared to Obama’s 22 percent and former Sen. John Edwards’ 11 percent. “The Clintons put on a full-court press to get the Kennedy endorsement,” a longtime Kennedy confidante told the Herald. Former Democratic National Committee Chairman Steve Grossman, an active Clinton operative and longtime friend of the Kennedys, sought to downplay the senator’s endorsement. “The people of this state are going to make up their minds based on record of achievement and ability of candidates,” he said. news.bostonherald.com