Kennedy spurned Hillary over husband's 'misleading' statements, racial remarks
John Byrne
Published: Monday January 28, 2008
Liberal lion Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) will announce his support for Illinois senator Barack Obama (D-IL) in Washington today, after a heated behind-the-scenes battle for his endorsement.
Media pundits will almost certainly play up the endorsement by the only remaining son of Joseph Kennedy, who fathered John Fitzgerald and Robert Kennedy. His endorsement follows a protracted backroom discussion between Kennedy and the Clinton campaign.
Clinton aides and allies had pressed hard to keep Kennedy neutral until after the Democratic Party had a nominee, according to a Monday report by Jeff Zeleny and Carl Hulse in the New York Times.
"But Mr. Kennedy had become increasingly disenchanted with the tone of the Clinton campaign, aides" told Zeleny and Hulse. "He and former President Bill Clinton had a heated telephone exchange earlier this month over what Mr. Kennedy considered misleading statements by Mr. Clinton about Mr. Obama, as well as his injection of race into the campaign."