Posted on 08/14/2002 6:20:34 AM PDT by PJ-Comix
DISTRICT HEIGHTS, Md.
On a languid evening last week, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend brought her campaign for governor to southeast Baltimore. She wanted to tout an anticrime initiative she launched as lieutenant governor to create community policing programs in 62 "hot spots" in Maryland.
But reporters hammered Ms. Townsend instead with questions about the latest bad news in her faltering campaign: her Republican rival, Representative Robert Ehrlich, had pulled nearly even in polls, and what once looked like an easy victory would now require tough political combat by the eldest daughter of Robert F. Kennedy.
In a clipped cadence, Ms. Townsend declared that the only important numbers were the number of elderly unable to buy prescription drugs, the number of people without jobs and the number of children needing good schools. "I've got a plan," she asserted each time, with a tight jab of her fist eerily reminiscent of a gesture used by her father.
But not everyone thinks "Clean Kathleen" — the only woman in the family to pursue high-level elective politics — is up to the challenge she faces. She does come across as smart, driven and caring. A reporter for the conservative Weekly Standard, while dismissing her as light, wrote that she was the nicest politician he'd ever met. She has brought money, Hollywood glamour and idealism to the campaign. But what she has not brought is excitement.
It is certainly strange for a Kennedy to be considered boring. Ms. Townsend's advisers are urging her to sharpen her message on issues like crime, suburban sprawl and schools, and to attack Mr. Ehrlich more aggressively. They want her to reveal more about herself and her family. They worry that she may not be nasty enough. Without saying so, they seem to want her to be more like a Kennedy.
Bobby Kennedy, the prince of toughness, was murdered in 1968, when Ms. Townsend was 16. In later years, a popular political game was guessing which member of the next generation of Kennedys would seize the family mantle. One after another, Ms. Townsend's brothers and male cousins passed up the chance or flamed out. (The latest male contender is also in Maryland. Ms. Townsend's cousin, Mark Shriver, is seeking the Democratic nomination for a Congressional race in the Washington suburbs.)
Bad male behavior has always been part of the Kennedy family lore. Young Joe, Bobby's oldest son, had his marriage annulled and then abandoned his try for Massachusetts governor in 1997. Patrick, Teddy's son, overcame drug problems and won a House seat from Rhode Island in 1994. But he is in a difficult re-election bid because of a tendency to get into fights with girlfriends, airport security guards and owners of charter sailboats.
Over a quick hamburger dinner at McDonald's following her campaign appearances, Ms. Townsend said that before the women's movement of the 1970's, she accepted the notion of politics being "just for guys." Left unstated is that by contrast with the Kennedy guys, she is a scandal-free mother of four whose onetime ambition to join a convent has given her a nickname among some of "the nun."
It is almost as hard to imagine a Kennedy campaign without rough edges as it would be to imagine a scandal-free Clinton presidency. The great Kennedy campaigns of old always mixed edginess and even danger with their poetic appeals. Ms. Townsend has yet to find her own idiom in that regard, and comparisons are always difficult. But the rest of the nation may find the most interesting aspect of this governor's race is the question of whether a virtuous Kennedy is really a Kennedy at all.
Other supporters turn the proposition around and argue that while Ms. Townsend is her father's daughter, her father was not really the person everyone remembers. "Because she is a Kennedy, it is almost impossible for her to meet expectations," says Lanny Davis, the former Clinton operative who has run (unsuccessfully) for Congress in Maryland. "The memory of a legend is harder to live up to than the memory of a real person."
Part of Ms. Townsend's tendency to shy away from rough campaigning may be reflected in her desire to be seen as a centrist. Her choice of a running mate — Charles Larson, a retired Navy admiral and former Republican — alienated blacks, who had their own candidate and felt ignored.
"That was a shocker," said Jack Sims, the mayor of this largely black Washington suburb, where Ms. Townsend was campaigning. "She has something to learn about consulting people. You don't want to keep making the same mistake over and over again."
A few steps away, Ms. Townsend was busily shaking hands, hugging friends, chatting up children and celebrating her anticrime program. Occasionally, she stooped down and picked up a paper tossed onto the street by others in the entourage.
Clean Kathleen was at it again. But before long, the campaign is bound to get dirtier.
But not everyone thinks "Clean Kathleen" — the only woman in the family to pursue high-level elective politics — is up to the challenge she faces. She does come across as smart, driven and caring.
SMART? Did this reporter actually call KKT "smart?" Maybe in his liberal universe but everything I've read her say makes her come across as dumb as a rock. She can't even answer simple questions without first consulting her ever-present handlers.
It's interesting what Ann Coulter can predict through her book.
The section inside the parenthesis serves as a detailed Barf Alert.
They worry that she may not be nasty enough.
Give'em hell on OLB Kev. Especially that Joe Madison puke. 'Pod
Yeah, the Demmycrats often get on the high horse to whine about "negative campaigning" (which usually means that their opponent points out the Demmycrat's voting record) but once they start falling behind in a campaign, they start hurling the dirt. In fact, KKT's handlers are basically announcing that they will now begin waging a dirty campaign. I guarantee you that KKT's opponent will be denounced as a "racist."
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