Crown prince, continued

by Ian Donnis

NAME RECOGNITION: "If his last name were not Kennedy, he'd be chair of a Rhode Island House committee, not the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee," says biographer Darrell M. West

Q: Kennedy is described as being very hard-working and having other real political strengths along with his flaws. How would his political career be different if he weren't part of the Kennedy family?

A: If his last name were not Kennedy, he'd be chair of a Rhode Island House committee, not the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Certainly, the Kennedy name has been of enormous benefit. He has used it to cultivate the media, as well as to raise money. But I think it's unfair to characterize him only as a Kennedy creation, because he has shown political skills that are highly advanced. He has dealt with the occasional downside of being a Kennedy very effectively, and I think if he weren't as politically shrewd as he has been, he would not have gone as far as he has.

Q: Despite all his advantages, Patrick Kennedy in his first race for Congress outpaced a political unknown, Kevin Vigilante, by a surprisingly small margin. Why was he almost defeated?

A: It's a big jump going from the state legislature to the US Congress, and people have much higher expectations for who you are and what you're going to do. In that race, Kevin Vigilante ran a good campaign in certain ways and certainly was a very strong challenger. But Kennedy was helped by Vigilante's relative inexperience when it came to politics. And so Patrick had certain liabilities that could have been exploited, but they weren't. But I do think that that was a very tough race, and it wasn't preordained that Kennedy was going to win.

Q: One of the themes of your book is the way Patrick Kennedy carved out his own identity as part of a famous family. What have been the key factors in his success?

A: Patrick had a difficult childhood and has overcome a lot. I think one of the things that have helped him overcome various problems is that he understands his own limitations and his own weaknesses, and works hard to improve them and hires people who can help him get better, from speech coaches to media consultants to political strategists. He has enough resources that he can get the help and find the political mentors he has needed in order to advance politically.

Q: Patrick Kennedy benefited politically from the backlash against both the state banking crisis and the independent counsel's investigation of President Clinton. How has he moved forward in the absence of this kind of crisis?

A: Kennedy has moved forward by having a clear sense of what he has to accomplish. Every few years, he takes a personal inventory of where he is and where he wants to go, and thinks strategically in a long-term sense about what he needs to do in order to get where he wants to be down the road. I think that's been an important skill that's helped him to become the fifth-ranking House Democrat and the highest elected Kennedy of his generation.

WEST says Kennedy money has its privileges.

Q: You mentioned some fundamental changes in the operation of the General Assembly. In what other ways has Rhode Island politics changed over the past 10 or 15 years?

A: We have seen almost a complete revolution in Rhode Island politics over the past decade, in the sense that, I think, more than two-thirds of the General Assembly has turned over. All five of the statewide officials have turned over, and even much of the Supreme Court is different. In this tumultuous time period, it was fascinating to watch how Patrick Kennedy navigated the tides.

There were other reformers in the General Assembly who positioned themselves as outsiders and sought to take advantage of the banking crisis and to run for higher office. Every single one of them failed. Patrick was the only one of the group who was able to jump to the next level.

Certainly, his personal resources were a major factor in this. Political shrewdness was a major help to him. But I think he also understood that in the early '90s, when the economy was bad and there was a lot of discontent with government, it was important to be a reformer and to position yourself as an outsider. But then as the economy prospered in the rest of the '90s, people didn't want political outsiders as much as they wanted people who had contacts, who had experience and could deliver things for the state. And so he was able to understand how the larger political context was changing and to move with that tide as well.

Page | 1 | 2 | 3

Ian Donnis can be reached at idonnis[a]phx.com.