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Some key dates in Patrick Kennedy's life July 14, 1967 – Born in Brighton. 1986 -- As a senior at Phillips Academy in Massachusetts, checks into the Spofford Hall drug and alcohol treatment facility in New Hampshire. 1988 – Elected to the Rhode Island House while still a college student. 1991 – Awarded B.A., Providence College. 1991 – Testifies in the Palm Beach, Fla., rape trial of his cousin, William Kennedy Smith. Smith was later acquitted. 1994 – Elected as US Representative for Rhode Island's First District. November 1998 -- Named chairman of the Democratic Congresssional Campaign Committee. March 2000...

Joseph Kennedy III, the son of former congressman Joe Kennedy, is being tipped to launch a political career soon as insiders mull over who the next Kennedy in public life will be. Kennedy, 29, may be interested in the South Shore-Cape Cod House seat currently held by Democratic Congressman Bill Delahunt, who has not yet committed to a tough re-election fight. “Massachusetts – and Capitol Hill – without a Kennedy is like Fenway Park without the Wall,’’ Dan Payne, a Democratic media consultant, referring to the famous Green Monster told the Boston Globe. “They were meant to be together.’’ Others...

Patrick Kennedy’s unexpected decision not to seek reelection to the US House prompted widespread reflection yesterday on how swiftly the political climate had changed, from the adulation for Edward M. Kennedy after his death to the voter fatigue that has helped end the family’s decades in power. With Patrick Kennedy bowing out amid dismal poll numbers, some read the shift as a measure of the declining political cachet of the family name. Others say it goes deeper, reflecting the fading popularity of the activist federal government the Kennedy family has long championed.

a toast for Bishop Tobin    By Phil Lawler | February 12, 2010 2:13 PM Bishop Thomas Tobin, please stand up and acknowledge a hearty round of applause. For three generations, Catholic bishops had coddled the Kennedy family, shrinking away from any confrontation as the nation's most prominent Catholic political dynasty moved steadily away from Church teachings on a host of critical public issues. Finally last year Bishop Tobin took a firm stand-- and then refused to back down in the face of criticism. His clear pastoral leadership was the single best story of 2009: the most conspicuous of many displays...

...So we are now being told that Patrick Kennedy, the third child of Ted and Joan Kennedy, will not seek re-election to the House of Representatives, representing Rhode Island. It would be easy to take a few parting shots at Patrick. But part of facing reality is giving up on facades, mirages and imagery. By the time Patrick came along, it was more like, “Oh, God… not another Kennedy!”

U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy decided to abandon public office to focus on his personal life and family after watching his father die surrounded by loved ones, the 16-year congressman said in a wide-ranging magazine interview. Kennedy, who announced his decision not to seek re-election in a two-minute video clip, told Rhode Island Monthly he decided to let go of his House seat at Christmas after spending the fall reflecting on the death of U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy. “It’s pretty simple in this respect: I went through something that caused me a great deal of soul searching and self-reflection,” Kennedy...

Rhode Island Democratic Rep. Patrick Kennedy, the last member of his illustrious family currently serving in Congress, will announce on Friday that he is retiring, according to Democratic insiders. Kennedy, 42, was first elected to Congress in 1994. He did a stint as chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in the 1999-2000 cycle but has not served in the House Democratic leadership beyond that. His congressional tenure was marked by repeated substance abuse problems, including a drunk-driving incident in 2006. He entered a rehab facility at that time and again in 2009. Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), the congressman's father,...

WASHINGTON – A Democratic official says Rep. Patrick Kennedy has decided not to seek re-election for his seat representing Rhode Island in the U.S. Congress. ... The decision by the eight-term congressman comes less than a month after a stunning Republican upset in the race for the Massachusetts Senate seat his late father, Edward Kennedy, held for almost half a century.

I'm sure most of us have read by now enviro-saint RFK Jr.'s sentimental recollections of how snowy D.C. and Northern Virginny were back in his golden, Camelot childhood. How there was a ski-slope in Maclean and how a visiting delegation of Eskimos once built an igloo in the back yard of his Dad's Hickory Hill manse (still up for sale apparently). My question is: is there anyone here with meteorological knowledge who would know where to look to find temperature and precipitation figures for our little bailiwick for that era (early sixties) to compare to those of recent years?

The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), a division of the National Institutes of Health, is giving Dr. Lynn Fiellin, an assistant professor at the Yale School of Medicine, $3.9 million over five years to develop a video game to teach “sex, drug and alcohol negotiation and refusal skills" to children 9-14 years of age. The game will feature “virtual characters or avatars” that are guided by the children playing the game to make decisions about whether to engage in behaviors that put them at risk of being infected with HIV. The game’s effectiveness...

Rep. Patrick Kennedy has come out swinging against the man who now sits in the Senate seat his father held for 47 years. Telling a blog for the Hill newspaper that Senator Scott Brown was "in the tank for the Republicans," the Rhode Island Democrat called Brown's candidacy a "joke." The putdown is a familiar one for the Kennedy family. Forty-eight years ago, a thirty-year-old Ted Kennedy heard the same taunt from his primary opponent, Massachusetts Attorney General Edward McCormack: "If his name was Edward Moore, with his qualifications -- with your qualifications, Teddy -- if it was Edward Moore,...

The Kennedy clan has to be wondering lately, what the ____ (fill in blank) happened? The past year has not been kind to America's Royal Family. With yet another brutal winter storm having virtually shut down America's capital, our liberal friends in those snowy climbs will have ample time to pause and reflect on the demise of the Kennedys during the past year. First Caroline met with unexpected criticism in her quest to fill Hillary Clinton's term in the Senate, whereupon she withdrew from consideration. What the ____ (fill in blank) happened? She's JFK's daughter! She's Teddy's niece! Her uncle...

Patches, if your name were - no, I take that back. Patches, you are a joke, period. You are the runt of the litter of the runt of the litter. And the applejack didn’t fall far from the tree.

    Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., appears to be in trouble. If this poll is correct, then Democrats are in much more trouble than anyone realizes...The WPRI-12 poll showed the Rhode Island Democrat with a 56 percent unfavorability rating in his district - a negative that grows to 62 percent statewide.Only 35 percent of voters in Kennedy’s district said they would vote to re-elect him. Another 31 percent said they’d consider a different candidate and 28 percent said they would vote to replace him, according to the poll. Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Winning-Kennedys-seat--the-other-Kennedy-in-Rhode-Island-83631407.html#ixzz0egwScHUK

Joseph P. Kennedy II said today he regrets not seeking the U.S. Senate seat vacated by his uncle, but the former congressman has no plans to run against U.S. Sen.-elect Scott Brown in 2012. Kennedy, who was in Brighton today delivering heating oil for his nonprofit Citizens Energy, was asked whether Brown’s victory made him regret his decision not to run to succeed his uncle, the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy.

Kerry Kennedy, daughter of Robert Kennedy comments on the MA elections and says the loss to Brown was entirely Coakley’s fault thanks to a poorly run campaign. Kerry thinks it’s a shame for the people of Massachusetts to replace her Uncle’s illustrious seat with Scott Brown and believes it will be very detrimental to the country. She believes Scott’s win has nothing to do with healthcare or the Obama administration, and rather has to do with local election issues, in opposition to Steve Malzberg’s claim that there were no local issues included on Brown’s campaign platform.

Patrick Kennedy, son of late Sen. Edward Kennedy, mentioned Coakley repeatedly during his remarks to reporters, each time referring to her as 'Marcia,' not 'Martha'...

The Kennedy family still thinks it’s their seat, not the people’s seat. Patrick Kennedy just e-mailed out the following SOS:In a race that represents the critical 60th vote for health insurance reform and the rest of President Obama’s agenda.

Big-name Kennedy endorsements for Martha Coakley appear to have been little help to the Democrat in the U.S. Senate race - and may have even hurt her with some voters, a new Suffolk University/7News poll shows. The late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy’s widow, Vicki, and nephew Joseph Kennedy II gave the attorney general their official blessing last week. But of the 500 voters surveyed, only 20 percent said the Kennedy family nod made them more likely to vote for Coakley, and 27 percent said the endorsement made them less likely to support her. More than half of voters - 52...

MEDFORD, Mass. (AP) -- Edward Kennedy's widow has formally endorsed Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley in the race for her late husband's U.S. Senate seat. Vicki Kennedy threw her support behind Coakley on Thursday at a Kennedy-esque event: A brass band entertained a crowd of senior citizens with ''Hello Dolly'' and other show tunes. Kennedy says Coakley would continue the ''world-class'' representation provided by her late husband.