Strange Times for the Kennedy Clan 
By Niall O’Dowd

IN AMERICAN political parlance, the name Kennedy goes with Democrat the same way salt goes with pepper. So, it is a huge shock to the system when the words Kennedy and Republican are joined together in the same sentence.

Such is now definitely the case because Maria Shriver, niece of President John F. and Edward Kennedy, has thrown in her lot with her husband Arnold Schwarzenegger’s decision to run for California governor.

The decision came in part because Shriver was irritated at the number of old Irish friends of the Kennedy family who were advising her against a Schwarzeneg-ger run.

Sources say that Shriver became so upset at the negative vibe she picked up from the old line Kennedy loyalists that she decided to tell her husband to enter the race, in part to spite them.

Numerous calls were made to her the weekend before he decided to enter, warning her of the consequences for the family if he entered the race. Hints about his sexual past and about the impact it would have on her family were all dropped, and there was a clear determination to dissuade her. 

The Kennedy loyalists were appalled at the prospect of the blue blood Democratic family having a hand or part in electing a Republican governor in California, irrespective of his fame and fortune. The lobbying backfired however, and as Chris Matthews, host of Hardball on CNBC noted, the pressure had the opposite effect of what it was intended to achieve. 

Shriver’s decision to stand by her man represents the first crack in the overwhelmingly Democratic face of America’s most famous family. Her father, Sargeant Shriver, ran as vice president on the doomed ticket with George McGovern for president against Richard Nixon in 1972. Her mother Eunice Kennedy, of course, was founder of the Special Olympics and a key supporter of her brothers, John and Robert, in their political campaigns. 

Having a major family member support a Repub-lican is a little like a Bush clan member suddenly deciding to turn Democrat. It throws the entire wheel out of balance and leads to fierce internal questioning.

That was clear from the misguided pressure brought to bear on Shriver. Even with his wife’s approval, however, Arnold still held back. 

The other key element was the decision by Senator Dianne Feinstein to keep her name off the ballot. Arnold knew that Feinstein was unbeatable and he waited for the last possible second to decide to enter in order to find out what her intentions were.

Schwarzenegger’s decision to run capped what has been a bad few weeks for the Kennedy clan and the Irish political machine in Massachusetts generally. It was a huge shock that former State Senate head Billy Bulger was forced to resign from his position as chancellor of the state’s largest university after Governor Mitt Romney targeted him because of his brother, Whitey Bulger, the notorious criminal now on the lam. 

It was a fight Bulger never expected to lose but he did, and he handed Romney, a Mormon from Salt Lake City, a valuable scalp in his efforts to become a national figure interested in running for president in 2008.

After Bulger retired the media were quick to write off the Irish machine which has played such a huge role in Massachusetts politics for well over a century. After all, they argue, if the top gun in that machine can be picked off by an ambitious governor, a Mormon of all things, then who is safe – perhaps not even the Kennedys.

Ted Kennedy must be a trifle worried too, and the Bulger episode gave him cause to be. In addition, after decades in the sun, he suddenly has to share the limelight with his junior senator John Kerry, who most experts expect will win the Democratic presidential nomination. 

The old lion of the Senate is in his seventies now, and there does not seem a clear-cut family successor for his seat. Former Congress-man Joe Kennedy at one time would have been considered a definite, but that no longer seems the case.

It will be a very difficult call between family and political interests whether or not to support the efforts of Schwarzenegger and his Kennedy wife to become the first couple of California. It would be impossible to imagine Ted Kennedy stumping for Arnold, but it is also hardly likely that he will jump on the Gray Davis bandwagon either. 

In the end the race comes down to Davis, bona fide Vietnam War hero, and Schwarzenegger, who plays one in the movies. The Kennedy clan will obviously be watching the race closely, but many, no doubt, will be hoping the Terminator is terminated and normal service is resumed.