Kerry & Kennedy: Favorite Sons

CBSNews.com producer Jarrett Murphy is reporting from Boston this week.

Meeting in an ornate banquet room at a hotel on Boston's Copley Square, Massachusetts Democrats were rallying Tuesday for one JFK and recalling another.

"Everyone here is a big supporter of our next president, John F. Kerry," said Phil Johnston, state Democratic chairman, adding the middle "f" that Kerry does not usually use. Then Rep. Marty Meehan introduced his son, Robert Francis, followed by Rep. John Lewis of Georgia talking about John Kennedy's contributions to the civil rights movement.

Lastly, Cameron Kerry, brother of the soon-to-be nominee, said Sen. Ted Kennedy told him this weekend that this election was "more important election than 1960, more important than 1968, more important than 1980" — referring to the three presidential races in which the three Kennedy brothers ran.

This might be Kerry's convention, but Boston is still the Kennedy's town. Despite the buttons displaying Kerry and Kennedy side-by-side under the banner "Boston's Favorite Sons," no one denied that while they fiercely support Kerry, their relationship with Kennedy is a different creature altogether.

"Senator Kennedy has always been an outstanding senator, probably the greatest senator in this century," said State Rep. Ruth B. Balser of Newton. "We love him."

As Sen. Kennedy prepares to address the convention Tuesday night, the question for Kerry is what the contrast between him and Kennedy portends for his campaign.

The conventional wisdom on Kerry is that he does not energize people — that he cannot connect. Kennedy gets none of that criticism.

Kerry's "not a backslapper that come in and is right at home in the traditional sense," said Fred Koed, an alternate delegate from Cohasset, Mass. He describes himself as a "big JFK guy" who attended the slain president's funeral. "I think he has got a big heart but the general public doesn't see it all the time."

"Kerry has always been much more reserved," said Peg MacKenzie of Weymouth, who is attending her sixth convention. "Of course, he's always been in Kennedy's shadow."

As much as it is highlighting Kerry, the convention is not doing much to reduce the Kennedy shadow. Delegates were given booklets of sayings by JFK. On the first night of the convention, Kennedy's "let the word go forth" quote flashed up on the large video screen at the front of the Fleet Center. The late president's voice echoed through the hall.

State Rep. Carol A. Donovan of Woburn, whose first convention was in 1980 when Kennedy ended his bid for the presidency, said, "No matter who serves in the senate with Kerry, they're going to be the second senator."

While 54 percent of Democrats in general have a favorable view of Kennedy, a CBS News found that 88 percent of delegates to the convention have a favorable view. Why?

"It's because Ted's a Kennedy, because of his brothers and his family, that we have him in a different perspective," said MacKenzie. Also, his family has this great place in Hyannisport, "which, if you're a loyal Democrat, you get invited to."

Kennedy "brought home the bacon every time," said Dorothy Kellygay.

Linda Broadford, also of Weymouth, said, "Ted Kennedy's always been in my life." Attending the 2000 convention in Los Angeles, she remembers meeting two women in the restroom after Kennedy gave a speech. The women were moved to tears by the senator's eloquence.

"I said, 'Well, he's mine,'" Broadford recalled. The women replied, "'No. He belongs to all of us.'"

Kerry, she said, "doesn't have the history that Ted Kennedy does for the whole country."

This does not mean that Massachusetts are not deeply loyal to Kerry; they are. Koed says he has worked on Kerry campaigns for 20 years, planting Kerry signs, serving as a whip at conventions.

But Cameron Kerry noted that, "When JFK was president, there were huts around the world with his picture on the wall." Streets in foreign cities bore his name. In New England, Irish grandmothers display commemorative plates featuring the trinity of Jack, Bobby and the pope.

Koed thinks Kerry could someday earn that same adoration.

"I think he has it within him if he's given the challenge, and he's been given the challenge," he said.

By Jarrett Murphy