Wave of Neutrality

To hear the agonizing in Boston last week, you'd have thought that Cardinal Gushing was running against the Pope--the choice was that hard. In the rough-and-tumble world of Massachusetts Democratic politics, where a moment's indecision can make a roomful of enemies, politicians were struck by a sudden outbreak of public neutrality. The cause of it all was Edward M. ("Ted") Kennedy's long-expected announcement that he is a candidate for the U.S. Senate. That would ordinarily be a fine thing--except that Ted thus placed himself on a collision course with another dynastic figure: State Attorney General Edward McCormack, 38, nephew of House Speaker John McCormack, who wants the Democratic Senate nomination just as badly as Ted. Groaned Democratic Ward Chairman Theodore Dimauro of Springfield: "This is the hottest thing that I've ever been involved in."

The politician's discomfort did not seem to bother Ted Kennedy, who announced less than six weeks after he turned 30, the legal age requirement for a Senator. While two police sergeants and a bevy of patrolmen directed traffic outside his nine-room house near the Charles River, he strode into his living room with his blonde, tanned wife Joan at his side. A young man held up large cue cards, and Ted faced a battery of microphones and television and newsreel cameras. Said Ted: "I make this decision in full knowledge of the obstacles I will face, the charges that will be made. Massachusetts must have a Democratic voice in the councils of the Senate--a voice that will be heard."

Embarrassed & Annoyed. What did Ted's big brother think about that? Though Ted had talked the matter over with the President, none of the Kennedys had tried to dissuade him from his course. A private poll had already shown that Ted would win in the primary by 2 to 1. Asked at his news conference if he would give Ted his support, the President replied: "My brother is carrying this campaign on his own and will conduct it in that way." Attorney General Robert Kennedy, predicting that Brother Ted would win, suggested that the President might campaign for him after the primary. Ted himself announced that he did not expect any help from either brother. But anyone who knew politics--or the Kennedys--was sure that Ted would benefit mightily not only from the presidential image, but from the Kennedy money, manpower and influence.

Whatever help Ted may or may not get, it seemed sure that his candidacy would be no help to the President. With a third Kennedy ready to enter the national political scene, both Republicans and Democrats in Washington buzzed last week with renewed talk of a Kennedy dynasty. Some House leaders feel that the Kennedy-McCormack race in Massachusetts is already straining the President's relations with the House, and may make it hard for him to work candidly with the men under John McCormack. Democrats, somewhat annoyed at Teddy, are sure that the race will be an embarrassment, no matter who wins. Republicans feel that in the dynasty theme they have found an issue to use against the President in the fall.

No Assurance. An amateur who wants to start at the top, Ted Kennedy is not automatically assured of victory. In Eddie McCormack he faces an experienced pro who has served as president of the Boston city council, won election to the state attorney-generalship twice, and built up a strong state organization. Many a politician owes favors to the McCormacks because of John McCormack's long control of Massachusetts patronage; and many another feels that Jack Kennedy has not done enough for the state since his election. Besides, Eddie McCormack thinks that he has found a surefire issue in 49% Catholic Massachusetts: he has come out openly for federal aid to parochial schools.

Ted Kennedy looks like his brothers, sounds like them, even uses the same gestures--but he has not yet demonstrated that he has the same capabilities. He has worked hard to build up an image of public service as an unpaid assistant D.A. in Boston's Suffolk County, made several trips abroad to broaden his knowledge. For more than a year, he has spoken to nearly any group in Massachusetts that would listen to him--but he has had nothing really new or weighty to say about either foreign affairs or the problems of Massachusetts. On the question of aid to parochial schools, he understandably hedged, but finally agreed with the President that across-the-board federal grants were unconstitutional.

Still, the Kennedy name is magic in a state where an obscure Gillette Co. clerk named John F. Kennedy (no kin) could be three times elected state treasurer over the opposition of his own Democratic Party. But right now, as far as party Democrats are concerned, it is also something of an albatross. Both Eddie and Ted have announced that they intend to go to the voters regardless of the state Democratic convention's choice in June, presumably to battle with each other while they fight off likely G.O.P. Candidate George Lodge, 34, son of Henry Cabot Lodge. So split are Massachusetts Democrats that many oldtimers have declined to be party delegates this year. When they are finally forced to jump, the pros fervently hope that they will jump the right way. Says a state senator: "Both the Kennedys and the McCormacks are great haters, you know."

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