Candidates using Ted Kennedy in campaigns, ads
2nd December 2009
BOSTON (FOX25, myfoxboston) - In the race for the late Ted Kennedy’s senate seat, the Kennedy family has so far stayed away. But we’ve still heard plenty of talk about Ted Kennedy from the candidates themselves.
It’s an endorsement they can’t get, but it doesn’t mean they aren’t trying. Voters are seeing Kennedy’s image in campaign ads, and candidates are mentioning his name on the stump.
The four democrats running to replace Kennedy are engaged in a sometimes unseemly effort to link themselves to the late senator and capitalize on voter sentiment.
Former Kennedy aide Scott Ferson says some of the ads have induced cringes from some Kennedy supporters.
“It’s fraught with peril. Either you have a connection, or stay away from it,” Ferson said.
Attorney General Martha Coakley, who was not close to Kennedy, is the only democrat not using Kennedy in her ads.
But Celtics co-owner Steve Pagliuica has not been so shy, implying Kennedy would support his health care stance
City Year founder Alan Khazei goes even further, using John F. Kennedy, and shots of an ailing Ted Kennedy, wearing a red jacket from Khazei's non-profit organization. It’s the same jacket Kennedy was wearing the day after getting released from the hospital, after being diagnosed with a deadly brain tumor
And Rep. Michael Capuano plays heavily on his ties to Kennedy in Congress.
But without an endorsement from even a close Kennedy relative, Ferson says it’s unlikely any of the candidates are fooling voters.