January 16 - 23, 1 9 9 7

On the Weld watch

Bill Weld promised he wouldn't run for a third term. Now he's not so sure. We asked these pol-watchers the two questions that are on everyone's lips: will Weld run, and would he beat Joe Kennedy?

THE WELD WATCH	Will he run?	Would he beat Kennedy?
Jon Keller, Channel 56	YES. "I can't think of any other way, offhand, that he can feed his out-of-control ego."	NO. "I don't see the toehold."
John VanScoyoc, New England Cable News	YES. "How many more things does this guy have to do to signal that he has national aspirations?"	YES. The voters are "just perverse enough to say, `For the very reasons we didn't send you to the Senate, we'd like to have you as governor.' "
David Brudnoy, WBZ Radio	YES. "The [term-limits law] doesn't forbid him. There's no reason why he shouldn't."	NO IDEA. "I am the world's worst on this. I thought that Weld would beat Kerry."
Frank Phillips, the Boston Globe	MAYBE. "I would give it a 50-50 chance. . . . That [Globe] poll is certainly going to create a lot of pressure on him by Republicans, many of whom are strong advocates of term limits, which is the great irony."	TOO CLOSE TO CALL. "Joe Kennedy, despite what some pundits think, is not an intellectual slouch, and it would be a very brutal campaign. I wouldn't dare predict how it would come out."
Paul Sullivan, the Lowell Sun	NO. "This is just a way to stay in play. . . . When it's all said and done, it's just going to be too awkward for him to come back from his pledge for term limits."	NO. "I think he'd be a strong candidate, but no matter where it is . . . by election time [Kennedys] win."
Joe Sciacca, the Boston Herald	NO. "I think it's part of a deeper strategy to protect Cellucci. . . . He's not doing the sorts of things that one who's running for another term would be doing. You don't see him outlining an energetic agenda. The fire in the belly is just not there."	NO. "The polls are showing that Weld is ahead, but the minute Joe Kennedy announces for governor, that race would tighten up incredibly."
Jim Braude, New England Cable News	NO. "A lot of people have argued that [the Globe's poll results] make a run inevitable. To the contrary, they pave the way out. Now the governor can return to his Brahmin resting place and say, `I could have beat Joe Kennedy.' "	NO. "Weld's WASPish, I-don't-have-a-clue-what- life-is-like-for-real-people qualities were muted when the guy standing next to him was the equally Brahmin John Kerry."
Barbara Anderson, Citizens for Limited Taxation and Government	NO. "I don't think those of us who think he's not should have to defend our position. It seems to me the people who think he is should have to defend theirs. That's what he's always said, and that's what we've always had reason to assume."	NO. "I regret this, but if he couldn't beat a guy who looks like one end of a horse and acts like the other, how is he going to beat Joe Kennedy?"