Kennys are popping up like mushrooms these day. This time, it is Ted Kennedy, Jr. who may challenge Chris Shays.
ANOTHER Kennedy is about to run for public office. At his Newport fund-raiser the other night, Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.) told a Page Six spy his brother, Ted Kennedy Jr., who lives in New Haven, is eyeing a Connecticut congressional seat. "Patrick says support for his brother is building, and Ted Jr. was recently praised for his and his wife's environmental work by Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal,"our source added.
It's been a while since I heard anything about him other than the made-for-television movie about his childhood bour with cancer. According to Wikipedia:
In 1973 cancer was discovered in his right leg. The leg was amputated. On the same day this surgery took place, Ted Sr. gave his niece Kathleen away at her wedding, rushing back to the hospital afterwards. In 1986, a movie called The Ted Kennedy Jr. Story was made for TV which concentrated on this event in Kennedy's life.
He received an undergraduate degree from Wesleyan University, a master’s degree from Yale University, and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Connecticut School of Law (which he attended at night). After graduation he worked at the New Haven, Connecticut law firm of Wiggin & Dana specializing in disability issues. Kennedy is the co-founder and President of the Marwood Group, a business development firm.
He married Katherine Anne "Kiki" Gershman on November 9, 1993, on Block Island, Rhode Island. She is an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at the Yale University School of Medicine. They have a daughter, Kiley Elizabeth Kennedy (born August 7, 1994) and a son, Edward Moore Kennedy III (born February 25, 1998).
His name was floated by Connecticut activists in December 2005 as a potential challenger to U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman in the 2006 Connecticut Democratic Primary.
I know we're tired of dynasties, but this family has been so valuable to the country. Have you ever noticed the contrast between the Kennedys and the Bushes? Sure, both are rich, spoiled and reckless. But that's where the similarities end. With the Kennedys, no matter how flawed they are (a trait among the men), they still find time to do good for the community and the country. And Ted Kennedy sloshed was far more valuable to America than any Bush sober. Ted, Jr. also has the potential to be more effective than his younger brother, Patrick (and a better candidate than Kethleen Kennedy Townshend). Shays must be breaking into cold sweat.