The Kennedy mystique is definitely eroding here in Massachusetts and the die-hard Kennedy voters who still have pictures of JFK in their living rooms are dying off. The younger crowd I run with hold the present Kennedy generation in contempt. That's why Joe Kennedy won't run for governor. Even he realizes the jig is up. Teddy is a laughingstock as much here as anybody else. He was very beatable in 2000 but the Republicans put nobody up against him. Kennedy basically ran uncontested, which was a disgrace. The Republican candidate was a nutcase nobody (Jack E. Robinson) and all you need to know about just how marginal a candidate he was was the fact that he tied for second place with a Libertarian (Carla Howell).
Like you said, the younger people around here just need a little push to the right - a reason to vote Republican. These folks generally vote Democrat because their parents voted Democrat and their parents voted Democrat and so on. The perception still lingers around here that the Democrats are "for the working class" which is a sad joke that can easily be dispelled, if only we had some real Republican candidates step up to the plate and offer some new ideas (instead of trying to pander to liberalism).
That Mitt Romney is seen as a savior around here tells you all you need to know about the sad shape of the GOP here in Massachusetts. In most other states, Romney would be middle-of-the-road RINO. Here, he is being hailed as the next Ronald Reagan, because quite frankly, he's all that is separating us from Governor Robert Reich.
There are a lot of conservatives and potential conservatives here in Massachusetts. We just need some people to vote for. But if the rest of the country keeps writing us off and the GOP doesn't make any effort to recruit, it will never happen.