lA Sunday, Feb. 16, 1969 THE WASHINGTON P031 4 Destiny Again Calls to a Kennedy Uncanny Parallel Betiveen Senator, Late Brother Seen By Leroy F. Aarons Washkitten Pima Stiff Writer BOSTON—The year is 1969, the state is Massachusetts, but the visitor from 'New York has to blink twice at the political landscape to avoid the eerie feeling that he had somehow been there before. Here is a Kennedy. seemingly des- tined for the White House, still merg- KEN O'DONNELL ing from the depths of melancholy over a slain brother, trying to preside . open headquarters over a divided and fratricidal state FRANCIS X. BELLOTTI Party whose leaders regard him with . perennial candidate an ambivalence compounded of jeal- ousy, love, fear and respect. Here, too, is a Kennedy anxious to forge a base of strength and unity in his home state where Democrats have been almost entirely excluded from top elective offices, yet deterred by a traditional reluctance to be drawn into a furnace of conflicting local ambi- tions. One can go on. The parallels be- tween the situation of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy in Massachusetts today and those of his late brother, Robert, in New York prior to the 1968 election year, are so close as to be uncanny. Same Sense of Destiny Perhaps more than anything else, there is the same sense of higher des- KEVIN H. WHITE tiny prevailing the local political air. his image is eyed In New York all Bobby Kennedy had ENDICOTT PEABODY to do was show up at a ward politi- cian's dinner and the papers would . desires anointment headline: RFK Plea for Unity Seen as Senator Kennedy in a contem- Nod Toward '68. plative mood on the Hill. Similarly, every move Teddy Ken- nedy makes is watched for clues as to presidential strategy. The Senator is nedy endorsement now might be more scheduled to appear at a dedication destructive than helpful, throwing the Monday of Boston's new City Hall; Party into a bitter wrangle. "If Teddy wondering local politicians will watch gets into this and picks somebody, he's for any signs of a subtle endorsement got three enemies and one friend," of Mayor Kevin White, who wants to says one well-informed politician, run for Governor in 1970, and, who "He'll stay out of the thing until pri- perhaps, has the progressive image hurrah days of Mayor Curley. mary time. He's not about to get boxed Teddy is anxious to cultivate as he This, actually, is the problem. The in on one candidate." Democratic Party here has been looks to 1972. Here, again, the parallel with New The 1970 race for Governor is al- tagged with the aroma of old-one, po- ready the hot political issue here, tentially corrupt, Irish ward heelers, a York is fascinating. Before the 1966 nearly two years before the election reputation that is not enhanced by its gubernatorial election, Robert Ken- and 18 months before the state conven- tendency to bloody itself in primaries nedy was urged to come out in favor of tions. On the Republican side there is and come up with lackluster statewide a progressive candidate. He hesitated no debate: The nominee will be Fran- candidates. for so long, that by convention time he cis W. Sargent, the personable but Except for Peabody and Bellotti in could do nothing to prevent the nomi- lightweight Lieutenant Governor who nation of Frank O'Connor, an organiza- moved Into the Chief Executive spot tion Democrat who lost to Nelson A. when John A. Volpe went to President Rockefeller. • An added factor is that Ted Ken- Nixon's cabinet. nedy will be up for re-election to the Four Already Known Senate in 1970, This raises a lot of still Among the Democrats, however, unanswered questions. Does Kennedy there are already four officially or un- —who won by a million votes in 1964 officially declared candidates, which —intend to seek an even greater man- seems to assure another of the blood- date in Massachusetts as a prelude to baths Bay State Democrats seem in- 1972? As head of the ticket, will he clined to engage in every election. want an appealing candidate for Gov- In addition to White, the Lindsay- ernor or does he intend to rely on his esque Mayor whose agents are already own coattails bring in the Demo- trying to line up delegate support, cratic slate (which didn't work in 1964, when Volpe won the Governorship)? there are: Kenneth P. O'Donnell, political op- Just how active does Teddy intend to • be in the 1970 race? erative for John F. and Robert F. Ken- His associates say Kennedy has de- nedy, who ran a primary against Ed- cided none of these questions. Some of ward McCormack for the 1986 guber- the decision, 'however, may be taken natorial nomination and lost, out of his hands by the Republicans. O'Donnell has opened a headquarters. • State Senate President Maurice May Run Nobody The state Republican Party, which has lost its top leadership to the Nixon Administration (Volpe and Elliot Rich- Donahue, a man who wields great ardson, former Attorney General who power in Party circle, but is not well went to the State Department) is seri- liked bY the public. He was Kennedy's ously considering running nobody campaign manager In the 1982 Senate against Kennedy, race. "How do you run against the third • Former Lt. Gov. Francis X. Bel- coming of Christ?" asks State GOP lotti, a perennial candidate who lost to Chairman Josiah S. Spaulding piquant- Volpe in 1964 after defeating then-Gov. ly. But Spaulding favors putting up an Endicott Peabody in the Democratic attractive young candidate against primary. Teddy, if for no other reason then to force him into the open on issues that Each of these men would dearly love to be anointed by Kennedy (O'Donnell might come up two years later. There is some agreement that Presi- admits candidly: "I would give my 1964, the Democrats haven't elected a' right arm for it.") But the Senator dent Nixon would be unlikely to allow Governor or Lieutenant Governor in Kennedy to go unopposed in his home shows no inclination, at least at pres- ten years, or an Attorney General in state just two years before the na- ent, to get into the mix. six years. And, in 1966, Edward tional election. Beaten by Brooke Brooke, a Negro Republican, defeated Says Ken O'Donnell, veteran of Peabody for the U.S. Senate. This, de- Oddly enough, despite the long Ken- many political wars: "If I were Francis spite an enormous Democratic regis- W. Sargent running for Governor in nedy tradition here, Teddy's influence tration edge, which helped give Hubert within the Party structure is limited. 1970 I'd say let him alone; get him the Humphrey more than 60 per cent of hell out of the state. If I were Richard He can name the state chairman, and Massachusetts' vote in 1968. has done so, but in the absence of a Nixori, I'd be saying the hell with that; Democrat in the Governor's chair, or Faced with this history, some local I don't want Teddy running all around as Lieutenant Governor or Attorney Party leaders have urged Kennedy to the country in 1970 taking potshots at General, the real power lies in the risk taking an early position on a can- me." State Legislature. There, Senators and didate, preferably an attractive vote- Thus, it seems inevitable that in Representatives share the dividends getter like White. Massachusetts political percolater, the patronage and a system of ward poli- Not Getting Boxed In essential ingredient is Teddy Kennedy, tics that hasn't changed since the last whether anybody likes the recipe or Those opposed to the idea say a Ken- not, .