Chris Kennedy Planning To Run For U.S. Senate: Sun-Times

A son of Robert F. Kennedy is planning to run for the U.S. Senate, the Chicago Sun-Times' Michael Sneed reports.

Chicago businessman Chris Kennedy has been conducting polling on a potential 2010 Senate run for weeks and apparently likes what he's seen. Kennedy, a son of a son of Robert F. and Ethel Kennedy, will announce his candidacy next week, according to Sneed. Kennedy has retained AKPD Message and Media, the high-profile political consulting firm founded by President Obama senior advisor David Axelrod, and has already shot a campaign ad, Sneed reports.

Kennedy is president of Merchandise Mart Properties Inc., a Chicago-based property owner and management company.

A recent GOP poll on the race obtained by the Sun-Times' Lynn Sweet found the famously-named Kennedy "surprisingly lacking in name ID" and trailing State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky and embattled incumbent Senator Roland Burris in a potential Democratic primary. Kennedy was far closer in a general election matchup against GOP Rep. Mark Kirk, with 32.6% of respondents votes to Kirk's 33.2% (34.2% were undecided).

Kennedy, however, found his own polling encouraging, according to Sneed and Crain's columnist Greg Hinz, having told Hinz, "let's just say there was nothing in there that would discourage me."

Another potentially appealing factor for Kennedy could be the role of President Obama. The Sun-Times' Sneed wrote May 8 that Obama chief of staff Rahm Emanuel "is privately telling folks Chris Kennedy -- if he runs -- may potentially be the strongest candidate for the U.S. Senate seat once occupied by Barack Obama." And the president could be inclined to support Kennedy as a thank you for the family's backing of his presidential run, as one author of a Kennedy family book noted:

"Obama will do anything for the Kennedys," Vincent Bzdek, a Washington Post news editor and author of The Kennedy Legacy: Jack, Bobby, Ted and a Family Dream Fulfilled, told the Toronto Star. "Last year, the endorsements from Ted and Caroline were key to Obama's rise. ... There is a real connection there. And Obama has a machine."

The Illinois Republican Party has already included Kennedy in a campaign ad, 100 Days of the Same:

Comments

[No2Kennedy]

Doesn't Kennedy have some shady real estate deals and run-ins with labor unions that could be trouble for him in the Democratic Primary.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6QmgoHsnXw

[petrosbasileus]

You don't need to make the comment as if it were a suggestion... Clearly, as everyone can deduce from your username, you're here to spread propaganda against his candidacy. At least abandon all pretense of being just another commenter appalled by what he found... Yes?

[No2Kennedy]

Kennedy’s shady real estate deals and run-ins with labor unions seek to be trouble for him in the Democratic Primary.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6QmgoHsnXw

[stav506]

No Chris! Don't do it! The Mart is run perfectly! I never have a problem unless it's the CTA Brown Line stop there. I'll vote against you b/c your work there makes mine and everyone else's in the furniture industry worldwide so much easier.

Actually, if your being there can help things in the country run smoothly like @ the Mart, nevermind my selfishness.

Pressing the flesh at Neo Con 09 will surely help. (No, it's not what you think. It's the industry's global convention showcasing new furniture held at the Mart every year. No Bill Crystal or Darth Cheney invited.)

[Truthseeker55]

Jeez, not ANOTHER one. Gotta keep the oligarchy alive huh?

[BushBites]

I assume he doesn't live in Mark Kirk's district.

Otherwise, I think he'd be a shoo-in to take over that seat, either by running against Kirk or running against whoever the Repubs put up when Kirk moves on.

[Blackshifter]

There is alot of people here who automatically discount him because he's a Kennedy but I look at things differently. Having a very successful parent such as RFK you have alot to live up to. No matter what his accomplishments are, I think he was drawn to service partially because of that. And the I am sure the rise of Obama only made his calling that much clearer. I don't think anyone should discount his candidacy based on family but about the issues and his character.

I certainly hope Illinois treats his candidacy with a little more respect than what NY showed to Caroline.

Also, I am very curious to see how downstate Illinoisians will think about him once his stances on issues come out. He's got to connect with downstate if he's going to win the Senate seat.

[ekoorb]

Very well put. Let's have a contested nomination to learn who can connect with voters and has closets clean enough to win statewide. On the Caroline issue, she didn't sound like Senate material in her press availability.

[JohnFObama]

To all you people saying he has to be in the state and get to know the locals, HE IS A LOCAL, hes a businessman in CHICAGO, hes no carpetbagger. He has had a succesful career, no major screw ups, that combined with his name and the fact that Illinois is a firmly blue seat, Chris Kennedy will become Senator Chris Kennedy in 2010.

[Dr Manhattan]

He's Chicago Democratic version of Bush. Born on third base and thinks he hit a triple.

[moonflowerjewelry]

i'd rather have a generational kennedy than a generational bush in any kind of office. his goofy, nerdy face is endearing. i'd vote for him.

[Thefamilyvan]

This Kennedy would have to get to know the Illinois community a little better before he's considered a serious contender. He'll have to have some face time in the state.... the name won't get it done. Illinois also is birthplace to Hillary Clinton, but it embraced Barack, birthplace, Hawaii.

[BushBites]

He's lived in the Chicago area for at least 20 years.

[RedStateCenterLeft]

This is the one Kennedy who actually runs a business--the family business--The Merchandise Mart in Chicago. It's a pretty quiet business but it's a business all the same. I think the Senate is a bit too much however, and he ought to consider a run at city council or Congress first. The best guys start out small, like state senate, kinda like this Obama guy they used to have in Chicago. Guess he did well.

[BushBites]

No longer the family business.

It was sold awhile ago, but he still runs it.

[LMKay66]

Wow. How many kids did Bobby and Ethel have? LOL I didn't even know there was a Chris Kennedy. He's just the spittin image of his father, teeth and all.

[mrpuddles]

Can't get a real job? Enuf of the "tragic" Kennedys.

[BushBites]

He runs the Merchandise Mart in downtown Chicago, where he's worked for over 20 years.

He's raised a family in the Chicago suburbs for almost that long.

He's very well established.

[spiritpony1]

dear kennedys--------no offense, but we ARE TIRED OF Y'ALL---------get some other jobs fer chrissaake-------

[FedupinChicago]

Speak for yourself. I'd be interested in seeing what he wants to do. Our state is in dire need of someone who knows what they're doing. I don't care what his last name is or who his family is if he can do a good job.

[cruisepuppy7452a]

Being the son of RFK, he had to have gained some of Bobby's good genes. Bobby would be proud to see his son running for office. You all may assume all Kennedy;s are alike, but they are not. There is still the lesson learned to give back they never ignored, never forgot. Let's hope this Kennedy makes it to the senate, and some crumb bum doesn't harm him before he can do this. I would like to see another kennedy in office in my life time. I was a child in Italy when we learned the tragic news of his father's assasination. I won't for get it, I was in a markato in Florence when my mother was told the horriffic news. You don't forget something like that as a child, which is why I want to see this Kennedy reach the glass cieling and beyond. This country could do a lot worse and has with bush and cheney. Let's give him a chance shall we? I think this country has had enough sadness to watch another good man be trounced.

[PoliticalRockChick]

Watch he's got it in the bag, only if he doesn't have any love child, sexual harrassment, alcoholism, affairs in his past. lol