Kennedy spurned Hillary over husband's 'misleading' statements, racial remarks  Liberal lion Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) will announce his support for Illinois senator Barack Obama (D-IL) in Washington today, after a heated behind-the-scenes battle for his endorsement.
Media pundits will almost certainly play up the endorsement by the only remaining son of Joseph Kennedy, who fathered John Fitzgerald and Robert Kennedy. His endorsement follows a protracted backroom discussion between Kennedy and the Clinton campaign.
Clinton aides and allies had pressed hard to keep Kennedy neutral until after the Democratic Party had a nominee, according to a Monday report by Jeff Zeleny and Carl Hulse in the New York Times.
"But Mr. Kennedy had become increasingly disenchanted with the tone of the Clinton campaign, aides" told Zeleny and Hulse. "He and former President Bill Clinton had a heated telephone exchange earlier this month over what Mr. Kennedy considered misleading statements by Mr. Clinton about Mr. Obama, as well as his injection of race into the campaign."
Kennedy called Bill Clinton Sunday to inform him of the decision. The endorsement was first leaked to Politico by "Democratic sources."
Kennedy will join Obama on a western tour, followed by events in the northeast. His endorsement speech will be introduced by Caroline Kennedy, John F. Kennedy's daughter. Ms. Kennedy issued an endorsement of Obama in Sunday's New York Times.
"Strategists see him bolstering Mr. Obama’s credibility and helping him firm up support from unions and Hispanics, as well as the party base," the Times said.
Asked about the endorsement on a weekend talk show, Obama said, “I'll let Ted Kennedy speak for himself. And nobody does it better. But obviously, any of the Democratic candidates would love to have Ted Kennedy's support. And we have certainly actively sought it.”
The Republican National Committee replied: “Senator Kennedy’s rejection of his friend and colleague is a stunning blow to Clinton’s campaign.”
Meanwhile, Clinton aides played down the importance of the Massachusetts' senator's backing.
“She has a great deal of respect for Sen. Kennedy and is very proud of all the endorsements she's received from her Senate colleagues,” Doug Hattaway, a Clinton spokesman told Politico. “At the end of the day, the voters are going to choose a candidate on their merits, not on their endorsements.”
The Massachusetts senator's decision could shake up his home state, which according the most recent poll by Survey USA was leaning 59 percent toward Clinton, 22 percent for Obama on January 22-23.
A Statehouse poll on January 9-12 found Clinton ahead with 37 percent of the state's support, compared to 25 percent for Obama.
Caroline's own endorsement of Obama compared him to her father, who was president from 1961 to his assassination in 1963.
"Sometimes it takes a while to recognize that someone has a special ability to get us to believe in ourselves ... and imagine that together we can do great things," she wrote in Times on Sunday.
"Senator Obama is inspiring my children, my parents' grandchildren, with that sense of possibility," she said in the article titled "A President Like my Father."
With AFP.
This video is from NBC's Today Show, broadcast January 28, 2008.
Correction: John F., Robert and Edward Kennedy are the sons of Joseph Kennedy.
 
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