A Kennedy Wants to Run for Barney Frank's Old Seat

Joseph Kennedy III, who you can probably guess is a member of that Kennedy family, wants to run for Barney Frank's vacated seat in Congress, reports The Boston Globe. Though The Globe says that the Middlesex County prosector has been mulling a congressional run since at least November, he will make his mulling official today by "opening an exploratory committee for the seat, a legal step that will allow him to raise money immediately," it reports. By the usual calculus of Bay State politics, it's about time another Kennedy represented it. It's been two-and-a-half years without a Kennedy in Congress after Sen. Ted Kennedy died in August 2009. Before that, there has been a Congressional Kennedy from Massachusetts since 1947 (expect for the two-year gap between 1960 and 1962 after JFK became president and before Ted Kennedy became a senator). So actually, 30 months is not a long time at all, historically. This newest Kennedy on the political scene is only 31-years-old, but he's as bona fide a Kennedy as they come, which again historically, is usually enough for Massachusetts. The family creds: he's the son of former Representative Joseph P. Kennedy II, the grandson of Robert F. Kennedy, and grandnephew of JFK. He also (predictably) went to Stanford and Harvard Law.