Barack Obama’s campaign is hoping for a surprise convention appearance from Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy, the ailing party elder whose January endorsement electrified Obama’s campaign, and who has sought to pass his family’s torch to the young senator from Illinois.
Kennedy was diagnosed with brain cancer in May, and a Kennedy insider said that while he aims to make the trip, his presence in Denver — and at the convention — will depend on how he feels.
“Things are day to day,” said the Kennedy source said, saying Democrats shouldn’t count on his presence. His spokeswoman, Melissa Wagoner, called an appearance “extremely unlikely.”
But another two people familiar with the plans said Kennedy was likely to appear, with one saying he has a “better than 50 percent” of making it to the convention.
“If anything, it’d be an 11th-hour call,” Patrick Kennedy, his son and the Rhode Island congressman, told the AP on Sunday. “If he’s up to it in the 11th hour and can get the green light from doctors, he might be able to pull it off.”
Obama’s convention has been shadowed by friction with the another would-be Democratic dynasty, the Clintons. But the Kennedys carry an unmatched romance for Democrats, and Kennedy’s presence would add a note of harmony. The brother of two slain Democratic heroes, Kennedy symbolically passed his family’s torch at a January 28 rally in Washington, D.C.
“There was another time, when another young candidate was running for president and challenging America to cross a new frontier. He faced criticism from the preceding Democratic president, who was widely respected in the party,” Kennedy said at the rally.
“And John Kennedy replied, ‘The world is changing. The old ways will not do.’ … It is time for a new generation of leadership.”
“So it is with Barack Obama,” he added.
Since then, Obama sought to associate himself with the Kennedy legacy, making Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of the president, the head of his vice-presidential-search committee.
She endorsed him in a January 27 New York Times op-ed under the frank headline: “A President Like My Father.” Sen. Kennedy played a key role in Obama’s campaign on February 5, trying to win over Latino voters and others for the Illinois senator. But after Kennedy was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor, he retreated to tend to his health. His recovery has been unexpectedly fast: He appeared in the Senate in July, and even his consideration of a convention trip is unexpected.
Whether or not Kennedy appears in person, his family and his legacy will play a large role at the convention. America’s best-known documentarian, Ken Burns, co-directed a film featuring interviews with Kennedy, Kennedy’s wife and Rep. John Lewis.
And the convention will have a distinct Kennedy feel.
“My three children are here, lots of cousins are here, obviously many of the Robert Kennedys are here,” Caroline Kennedy said on “Meet the Press” on Sunday. “It’s the 40th anniversary of Robert F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign, so I think for all our family, this is incredibly emotional.”
Roger Simon, Amie Parnes, and Martin Kady II contributed to this report.
