Patrick Joseph Kennedy
Representative Patrick "Patches" Joseph Kennedy on wikipedia Representative Patrick "Patches" Joseph Kennedy's Congressional homepage
Kennedy has been mentioned as a possible challenger for the United States Senate against liberal Republican Senator Lincoln Chafee in 2006. On his House web page, Kennedy denied that he will make a bid for the Senate in the mid-term elections. Patrick Kennedy has twice considered running against Lincoln Chafee for the U.S. Senate, in 2000 and 2006. One Senate seat in Rhode Island is held by fellow Democrat Jack Reed, so barring major faux pas on Reed's part, Kennedy will likely not challenge that seat while Reed holds it. Chafee's seat, being held by a Republican, is a different story. In the 2000 Senate recruiting phase, Kennedy gave serious thought to challenging Chafee, but Dick Gephardt moved Kennedy to the important House Appropriations Committee, a committee assignment so lucrative that Kennedy passed up the opportunity for 2000. Since Appropriations distributes money (and pork projects), Kennedy will have an increasingly influential role in where the money goes as his seniority increases. Given a perceived lack of strong Democratic challengers to Chafee in 2006, Kennedy again considered a Senate run in 2005, but declined due to his power on Appropriations and the condition of his ailing mother.
All told, Kennedy has shown throughout his career a desire for increased political power. At this point, his young age of 38 and committee assignments make it likely that he will remain a House member, presumably assuming the very powerful role of House Appropriations chair when he becomes the most senior Democrat on the committee and the Democrats find a way to regain control of the House. While it's unlikely that a relatively liberal member of the Kennedy clan could make a serious run for the presidency (or be tapped as a nominee for vice president), in politics, stranger things have happened.
- Jack recently had an argument with one of his brother's aides over the issue of custodianship of Jack and Patrick's mother, Joan. How that resolves remains to be seen.
