Off & Running

The young man swung down a Boston hotel corridor, passed a private dining room, where an Italian wedding reception was going on. But the guests recognized him and swarmed out to surround him. "You shouldn't be applauding me," cried Edward ("Ted") Kennedy. "You should be applauding this lovely young couple about to start a wonderful life together." Then, as his "wedding present to this wonderful couple," Ted Kennedy, 29, sang Sweet Adeline. That was fitting: Sweet Adeline had been the theme song of Ted Kennedy's maternal grandfather, the late John ("Honey Fitz") Fitzgerald, who was Boston's mayor for five years.

Such blarneyed encounters are part of the daily routine of Ted Kennedy, who is off and running for public office--most any public office. He may try next year for Congressman-at-large from Massachusetts, or he may go for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by his big brother Jack. His father, Joseph P. Kennedy, wants him to run for the Senate ("Old Joe," says a family friend, "considers that Senate seat the family's"). But President John Kennedy is not so certain that Ted is ready for the Senate--and Ted will almost certainly abide by the President's advice.

Dynastic War. If Ted Kennedy does run for the Senate and wins the Democratic nomination, Massachusetts voters may be in for the resumption of a dynastic war that goes back 45 years. In 1916, the first Henry Cabot Lodge trounced old Honey Fitz for the Senate. In 1952, Jack Kennedy evened the score by defeating Republican Senator Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.; in 1960, the Kennedy-Johnson ticket edged out the Nixon-Lodge combination. Next year Massachusetts' Republican senatorial nomination is likely to go to Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.'s son: George Cabot Lodge, 34.

Ted Kennedy and George Lodge would be a fascinating match. Both are handsome and king-sized: Ted is 6 ft. 2 in., 210 Ibs.; George is 6 ft. 5 in., 190 lbs. Both are married to uncommonly pretty women; Lodge has six children and Kennedy two. Both went to Harvard, are veterans and world travelers. When it comes to public service, Lodge has a considerable edge: he worked in Washington for seven years, served as an Assistant Secretary of Labor under the Eisenhower and Kennedy Administrations; Ted Kennedy has been working as an assistant district attorney in Boston.

But Kennedy is nothing daunted by his lack of experience. When not on his courthouse job, he spends his time on a frantic schedule of "nonpolitical" campaigning. On a recent Sunday, he drove from Hyannisport to Natick to deliver a breakfast speech at a men's group at Temple Israel. After 11:30 Mass, he hurried to a Framingham neighborhood coffee meeting, followed it up with a luncheon speech in Framingham, an appearance at a "silver get-acquainted tea" given by Medford St. James Church Women's Guild, a talk to a parents' group at the Wrenthem State School for retarded children. That night he attended the General Casimir Pulaski Skyway Committee banquet, held in Dorchester, quoted part of Poland's national anthem in Polish, enthusiastically danced the polka with a score of girls.

Soporific Speech. As compared with his brother Jack, Ted Kennedy has a lot to learn about politics--but he learns fast. Last winter, after a trip to Africa, he delivered a long, dull speech about his experiences. Ted went to his brother in despair. "I'm putting them to sleep," he mourned. "How long did you speak?" asked Jack Kennedy. "Forty-five minutes," said Ted, "but I have a lot to say." "Listen," said the President of the U.S., "if I can cut the State of the Union speech to 25 minutes, you can cut your talk on Africa." Since then, all Ted Kennedy's speeches have been slimmed to a maximum twelve minutes.

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