Joe Kennedy III to run for Congress?

The Boston Globe reported on Thursday 5 January 2012* that Joe Kennedy III, son of Joe Kennedy II by his first wife Sheila Brewster Rauch, and thus a grandson of Robert Kennedy and a great nephew of John F. Kennedy, has created an exploratory committee as a first step in the process of running for Congress later this year. A final decision will be made in the next few weeks. Kennedy has already resigned from his job as assistant district attorney in Middlesex, Massachusetts.

If Kennedy decides to run, he will fight for the Democratic nomination in the redrawn Newton and Brookline district. Barney Frank, the current US Representative of Massachusett's 4th district since 1981, announced on 29 November 2011 that he would not seek re-election, so it his seat that Kennedy might fight for, although I am not sure if the redrawn district of Newton and Brookline will still have the number four.

After Joe Kennedy III's first cousin once removed, Patrick Kennedy, son of Ted Kennedy, left Congress in January 2011, many wondered if this marked the end of "the Kennedy era" in US American politics. Well, now we know. It has been speculated earlier that Joe Kennedy III was the most likely Kennedy family member of his generation to pursue a political career, cf. among others The Boston Globe 14 February 2010 and Mail Online 2 September 2011, so I guess people who have an interest in the matter are not too surprised by the news. There are of course a few ifs here. Joe Kennedy III first has to decide to run (I think he will), then he has to win his party's nomination (more an open question) and finally he has to win the election in November. The Democratic party usually does well in this area, so I think that the fight for party nomination will be the biggest challenge. Well, time will show...

I can't help still being fascinated by the Kennedy family and the involvement in politics and other profiled areas. I guess it is first of all the dynastic aspect of it...

* For some reason if you click on the URL http://bostonglobe.com/metro/2012/01/05/joseph-kennedy-iii-launch-exploratory-committee/XSSFMt5wLN7pVrujuG90RM/story.html dated 5 January 2012 (I copied it on Thursday planning to write about it the same day, but in the end didn't get the time) you will automatically be transferred to the URL http://articles.boston.com/2012-01-06/metro/30592085_1_kennedy-family-robert-f-kennedy-edward-m-kennedy dated 6 January 2012. One mistake - the allegation that the US Congress had been without a Kennedy family member since the death of Ted Kennedy in 2009 - has been corrected. Patrick Kennedy left Congress in January 2011.