Kennedy Endorses Obama _ 'Change in Air'

Summoning memories of his brother the slain president, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy led two generations of the First Family of Democratic politics Monday in endorsing Barack Obama for the White House, declaring, "I feel change is in the air." Obama is a man of rare "grit and grace," Kennedy said in remarks salted with scarcely veiled criticism of the Illinois senator's chief rival for the presidential nomination, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, as well as her husband, the former president.

Obama beamed as first Rhode Island Rep. Patrick Kennedy, then Caroline Kennedy and finally the country's best known liberal took turns bestowing their praise. "Today isn't just about politics for me. It's personal," Obama told a boisterous crowd packed into the American University basketball arena a few miles across town from the White House. It was also about politics, though, and a rapidly approaching set of primaries and caucuses across more than 20 states on Feb. 5, with more than 1,600 national convention delegates at stake.

Kennedy's endorsement was ardently sought by all three of the remaining Democratic presidential contenders, and he delivered it at a pivotal time in the race. A liberal lion in his fifth decade in the Senate, the Massachusetts senator is in a position to help Obama court voting groups who so far have tilted Clinton's way. These include Hispanics, rank-and-file union workers and lower-income, older voters. Kennedy is expected to campaign actively for Obama beginning later this week, beginning in Arizona, New Mexico and California. Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of John Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1963, will also make campaign appearances, officials said.

David Axelrod, a senior Obama adviser, said strategists also hope Kennedy can help blunt Clinton's charges that Obama's health plan would not provide coverage for all. "I don't think anybody believes that Ted Kennedy would endorse a candidate who wasn't thoroughly committed to the goal of universal health care," he said. Clinton betrayed no disappointment at her rival's gain. "We're all proud of the people we have endorsing us," she said in a conference call with Arizona reporters. Addressing Kennedy's criticism of politicians who pit groups against one another, she said she was "strongly in favor of getting to where our politics can be about the real issues, trying to find common ground."

So strong is the Kennedy family's hold on some Democrats that as word spread on Sunday about the elder Kennedy's plans, Clinton announced that she had the backing of Kathleen Kennedy Townsend. A daughter of Robert F. Kennedy, Townsend lost the gubernatorial election in Maryland five years ago.
By David Espo
Source: Associated Press