Posted on 10/13/2005 5:22:48 AM PDT by veronica
Even if Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton runs for president in 2008, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy said yesterday he will throw his support behind fellow Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry for the Democratic nomination.
``If he runs, I would support him,'' Kennedy said during an interview at his Boston office.
While Kennedy has frequently entertained Clinton, the New York senator, and her husband, former president Bill Clinton, he said his loyalty is to Kerry.
Early polling shows Clinton and Kerry among the favorites for their party's nomination in 2008, but neither has said for sure whether they'll run.
Kennedy called Kerry, the 2004 nominee, an ``able, gifted and talented political leader.''
He criticized President Bush's leadership and said of voters: ``Every day, I think they regret that John wasn't elected.''
There was friction between Kennedy and Kerry in 2000, when Kennedy appeared to favor then-Sen. John Edwards over Kerry as Al Gore's running mate. Yet Kennedy campaigned vigorously for Kerry last year.
Kennedy said Kerry is ``rather uniquely set up'' with his seats on the Senate Finance and Foreign Relations committees, allowing him to hold sway over a broad range of congressional issues – from the war in Iraq to the reconstruction of the Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina.
``I don't know what's on his mind, but I think he's got some time to make it up,'' Kennedy said.
In a wide-ranging discussion in his 24th-floor office at the John F. Kennedy Federal Building, Kennedy also discussed his own plans to run re-election next year.
No opponent has emerged, but state GOP leaders were reportedly trying to recruit Essex County Sheriff Frank G. Cousins Jr., a black Republican who also served in the Legislature.
Kennedy said he'll mount a vigorous campaign, regardless of whether he has opposition or runs unopposed for the first time in his 43-year-career.
``You honor the people that elect you by speaking to their needs and the policy issues that affect their lives and the lives of their children and their parents and their community, and I'm going to do that irrespective,'' the 73-year-old said.
Kennedy already has about $8 million stockpiled for his re-election bid. He plans to raise even more, which his political advisers believe could scare off challengers.
A murderer supporting a treasonous bastard.
right??? the mind boggles...
Seats on Senate Finance and Foreign Relations committees give him little more than a soapbox. I want to encourage all Democrats to run Kerry again. Yeah, that's the ticket.
oh oh... The Clintonistas are gonna pay him a visit.
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