Senator Edward Kennedy (D. Mass) Re-election

Michael Kadish
3/1/00
Prof. Nevin

Since taking over his brother's senate seat, Senator Edward "Teddy" Kennedy has been one of the strongest members of the Democratic Party. The last of the original Kennedys, he has been the strongest liberal in the party for quite a while. His record is impressive, and is often ranked as the most influential senator. He has been a leading force in liberal forces, recently spearheading anti-hate bills, patient-rights bills and the attempt to raise the minimum wage. He has been very helpful to Massachusetts, helping recently in a local bipartisan matter. He has kept the Kennedy name alive.

However, he will most likely never be able to exceed the level of senator. Despite Kennedy's high rankings and record as a congressman, he has been one of the most notorious senators, for quite some time, as his sexual escapades, his alcoholism, and the dark fourteen-letter word of Chappaquiddick still are easily associated with his name.

Despite being a Kennedy, he has maintained his connection to the working man. His failed recent attempt to raise the minimum wage to $6.15 an hour, showed that he remains one of the few liberals remaining. Brought before the senate in '98 before the election, the Democrats showed only token support, and Clinton barely acknowledged the bill, and made no effort to fight for it.¹

His list of achievements is quite impressive in this respect. He has been quite probably the most ardent supporter of civil rights, leading the fight against Reagan's attempt to weaken the Voting Rights Act in 1982, and then advancing the concept later to include the handicapped.² He has been one of the major pushes in health care, was an ardent fighter of apartheid, and successfully fought against the nominations of Robert Bork in 1988 and G. Harrold Carswell in 1n 1970. ³

Not simply a diehard Democrat, however, he has worked on bipartisan deals throughout his long term. He has agreed to pure Republican measures, though petty, at times, as shown in his voting for the Ronald Reagan Airport.⁴ However, he has worked with them in creation of many of his bills, with Arlen Spector's help on the Hate Crimes Law⁵, Orrin Hatch and Nancy Kassebaum on Health Care,⁶ and Alan Simpson on immigration.⁷ He has helped out Massachusetts governor, an viscous Republican, and not just a few times, according to the Lt. Govenor, Jane Swift, who very recently said that, "The governor has worked very well with Senator Kennedy on a number of issues." ⁸

He is extremely well respected for his work, by his fellow congressmen, and the media. Vice President Gore, while campaigning in Iowa, trying to promote his own health care plan, claimed, "Senator Kennedy, Mr. Health Care himself, backs my plan."⁹ According to Congressman Michael Goldman, "If you went to the other 99 senators and all of the members of congress, and asked them to make up a secret list of the three most effective members and the three most popular, only one senator would be on a majority of both lists: Ted Kennedy." ¹⁰

Boston Magazine raked him of "The Best of Boston," saying that "next year, his Republican challenger-whoever the poor fool may be-will be wearing a blindfold, smoking a cigarette, and saying his last words."¹¹ Roll Call said he is the 11th most influential congressman¹², which is quite impressive in a Republican controlled congress. Time Magazine says that he ranks as one of the all-time greatest senators.¹³ In fact, when writing a front story piece, on the thirtieth anniversary of Chappaquiddick, the writer had a hard time finding other reporters to help him, even off the record. Sean Flynn reported one of the more colorful retorts were "Are you on crack? There's no way I'm saying Kennedy and Chappaquiddick in the same sentence."

The media has been unusually nice to Kennedy in that way. It did not start out that way. When the car first sank at Chappaquiddick, The Boston Globe pushed the first Apollo moon shots down below the front page fold to make room for the Chappaquiddick story.¹⁵ It may have been the 80% of his constituents who did not want him to resign16, or perhaps something more sinister, but the media has been easy on him. For example, when given the opportunity, did not make too many jokes about the irony that it was Kennedy's 1991 civil rights bill that allowed women to sue for sexual harassment.

This was definitely not due to a lack of material. Ted Kennedy's political existence is a bit enigmatic. Kennedy's tenure has seen plenty of scandal. A brief list of scandals could include witness to two rapes, associations to Marilyn Monroe, allegations of his cheating back at Harvard, relative's fatal overdoses18, affairs with aids, and alcoholism. The oddity is that this has all been released to the papers, often front page news, almost none of it being covered up (with the exception of Marilyn Monroe), however Kennedy's 38 year term, and likely to go on to a 44 year term, remains intact. The public knows, cares, and still supports the man.

He does not, however, have the "Teflon" of Reagan, or the "slickness" of Clinton. Kennedy showed in 1980 that he, almost certainly, would never be president. He has however managed to maintain his honorable position this entire time. Reports are now saying that he is settling down, and that the blemishes will no longer be coming.19 However, his past will not be disappearing any time soon.

Kennedy will in all probability, win the upcoming election, and win big. The Republicans have not had anybody strong who has come forward yet to announce their campaign. Kennedy's fame and success will probably see age defeat him before an opponent, but he will not be able to move up from the Senate.