Chicago businessman Chris Kennedy a son of the late New York Sen. Robert F. Kennedy appears likely to launch a 2010 Senate bid in Illinois.
This candidacy would make him the latest in the famed familys second generation to enter the political fray.
It also would lengthen the list of Democrats who are either certain to run or are thinking about running in the February primary for the seat held by interim Democratic Sen. Roland W. Burris whose appointment to the seat Barack Obama vacated to become president has remained controversial and unpopular.
The Chicago Sun-Times has reported that Kennedy could announce his plans this week.
In the same article Sun-Times columnist Michael Sneed also noted that Kennedy has already hired AKPD Message and Media the Chicago-based political consulting firm founded by David Axelrod Obamas chief aide during the 2008 presidential campaign and now his senior adviser in the White House.
Kennedys spokeswoman at Merchandise Mart declined to confirm this with CQ Politics however and likewise would not comment on the suggestion that an announcement is imminent.
The discussion of a first-time candidacy by Kennedy in the Illinois Senate race nonetheless underscores the appointed incumbents vulnerability.
Burris was appointed in December by then-Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich a Democrat who had been arrested on corruption charges that included attempts to sell Obamas Senate seat to the highest bidder. In the weeks following the appointment Blagojevich was impeached and expelled from office by the Democratic-controlled state legislature. Leaders of the Senates Democratic majority initially declined to seat Burris but relented after receiving legal advice that the appointment was legal.
Since then Burris has received scrutiny over his ties to Blagojevich as well as requests by highly placed Democrats that he step down which he has rejected. He has made no suggestion to date that he will not run for a full six-year term in the regularly scheduled 2010 election.
But Burris reported raising just $845 in the years first quarter and registered an abysmal job approval rating of 17 percent in a recent poll. Democrats worry that the seat would be at jeopardy despite a strong Democratic voting trend in Illinois if Burris were to be nominated or subject the party to a divisive primary. Rep. Mark Steven Kirk currently is the most prominent Republican mulling a bid for the seat.
Kennedy would not be the first Democrat to state an interest in the seat. State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias has already formed an exploratory committee and raised $1 million in the first quarter alone. State Attorney General Lisa Madigan is probing whether to launch either a Senate bid or a primary challenge to interim Gov. Pat Quinn. And Democratic Rep. Jan Schakowsky says she will announce on June 8 whether she will give up her safe House seat on Chicagos North Side to pursue a move to the Senate.
Kennedys name though would make him a magnet for national attention. He was a month shy of his fifth birthday when his father a candidate for the 1968 Democratic presidential nomination was assassinated and less than five months old when his uncle President John F. Kennedy also was slain by an assassin. Chris Kennedy also is a nephew of longtime Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy better known as Ted.
The younger Kennedy has served for the past eight years as president of Merchandise Mart Properties Inc. a longtime Kennedy family enterprise centered on Chicagos Merchandise Mart the largest commercial building in the world.
The second generation of Kennedy candidates has had a mixed record of success. Chris Kennedys older brother Joseph P. Kennedy II represented a Boston-based Massachusetts district in the U.S. House from 1987 through 1998. Cousin Patrick J. Kennedy a son of Ted Kennedy has represented a U.S. House district in Rhode Island since 1995.
But Chris Kennedys older sister Kathleen Kennedy Townsend lost as the Democratic nominee for governor of Maryland in 2002 after serving eight years as lieutenant governor. Cousin Mark Shriver a son of Eunice Kennedy and Sargent Shriver was a member of the Maryland House of Delegates but lost a Democratic U.S. House primary in 2002 to Chris Van Hollen who now is in his fourth term and serves as chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
And cousin Caroline Kennedy the daughter of the late President Kennedy initially sought the appointment to the New York Senate seat vacated in January when Hillary Rodham Clinton became secretary of State but withdrew amid acrimonious exchanges between her camp and that of Democratic Gov. David A. Paterson over who was responsible for the failure of her candidacy.
Chicago businessman Chris Kennedy a son of the late New York Sen. Robert F. Kennedy appears likely to launch a 2010 Senate bid in Illinois.
This candidacy would make him the latest in the famed familys second generation to enter the political fray.
It also would lengthen the list of Democrats who are either certain to run or are thinking about running in the February primary for the seat held by interim Democratic Sen. Roland W. Burris whose appointment to the seat Barack Obama vacated to become president has remained controversial and unpopular.
The Chicago Sun-Times has reported that Kennedy could announce his plans this week.
In the same article Sun-Times columnist Michael Sneed also noted that Kennedy has already hired AKPD Message and Media the Chicago-based political consulting firm founded by David Axelrod Obamas chief aide during the 2008 presidential campaign and now his senior adviser in the White House.
Kennedys spokeswoman at Merchandise Mart declined to confirm this with CQ Politics however and likewise would not comment on the suggestion that an announcement is imminent.
The discussion of a first-time candidacy by Kennedy in the Illinois Senate race nonetheless underscores the appointed incumbents vulnerability.
Burris was appointed in December by then-Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich a Democrat who had been arrested on corruption charges that included attempts to sell Obamas Senate seat to the highest bidder. In the weeks following the appointment Blagojevich was impeached and expelled from office by the Democratic-controlled state legislature. Leaders of the Senates Democratic majority initially declined to seat Burris but relented after receiving legal advice that the appointment was legal.
Since then Burris has received scrutiny over his ties to Blagojevich as well as requests by highly placed Democrats that he step down which he has rejected. He has made no suggestion to date that he will not run for a full six-year term in the regularly scheduled 2010 election.
But Burris reported raising just $845 in the years first quarter and registered an abysmal job approval rating of 17 percent in a recent poll. Democrats worry that the seat would be at jeopardy despite a strong Democratic voting trend in Illinois if Burris were to be nominated or subject the party to a divisive primary. Rep. Mark Steven Kirk currently is the most prominent Republican mulling a bid for the seat.
Kennedy would not be the first Democrat to state an interest in the seat. State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias has already formed an exploratory committee and raised $1 million in the first quarter alone. State Attorney General Lisa Madigan is probing whether to launch either a Senate bid or a primary challenge to interim Gov. Pat Quinn. And Democratic Rep. Jan Schakowsky says she will announce on June 8 whether she will give up her safe House seat on Chicagos North Side to pursue a move to the Senate.
Kennedys name though would make him a magnet for national attention. He was a month shy of his fifth birthday when his father a candidate for the 1968 Democratic presidential nomination was assassinated and less than five months old when his uncle President John F. Kennedy also was slain by an assassin. Chris Kennedy also is a nephew of longtime Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy better known as Ted.
The younger Kennedy has served for the past eight years as president of Merchandise Mart Properties Inc. a longtime Kennedy family enterprise centered on Chicagos Merchandise Mart the largest commercial building in the world.
The second generation of Kennedy candidates has had a mixed record of success. Chris Kennedys older brother Joseph P. Kennedy II represented a Boston-based Massachusetts district in the U.S. House from 1987 through 1998. Cousin Patrick J. Kennedy a son of Ted Kennedy has represented a U.S. House district in Rhode Island since 1995.
But Chris Kennedys older sister Kathleen Kennedy Townsend lost as the Democratic nominee for governor of Maryland in 2002 after serving eight years as lieutenant governor. Cousin Mark Shriver a son of Eunice Kennedy and Sargent Shriver was a member of the Maryland House of Delegates but lost a Democratic U.S. House primary in 2002 to Chris Van Hollen who now is in his fourth term and serves as chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
And cousin Caroline Kennedy the daughter of the late President Kennedy initially sought the appointment to the New York Senate seat vacated in January when Hillary Rodham Clinton became secretary of State but withdrew amid acrimonious exchanges between her camp and that of Democratic Gov. David A. Paterson over who was responsible for the failure of her candidacy.
