Seeks to Retain Senate Seat, Promote Liberal Agenda : Sen. Kennedy Appears Comfortable in New Role as Party Elder

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, back on the presidential campaign trail in behalf of someone else, remains philosophical about the future.

“We’ve sort of learned in the family to look at the here and now and not the long-range questions,” Kennedy said in an interview.

The here and now is his own quest for reelection to the Senate and occasional stumping for a fellow Democrat from Massachusetts, Gov. Michael S. Dukakis.

Today, the youngest son of a Kennedy generation seems to have slipped comfortably into his new role as a party elder, ready to carry the ideological banner of New Deal liberalism into the 1990s.

The man who has been viewed through a presidential spyglass since the assassination of his two brothers seems at ease with the notion that in all likelihood he will never occupy the White House.

“He’s obviously extremely comfortable,” says Sen. John F. Kerry, a fellow Massachusetts Democrat. “It’s a role I think he’s relishing. He is enjoying himself. He’s full of energy. He’s on top of his game.”

Kennedy’s new-found freedom has allowed him to spend more time fighting for the poor and minorities with his influence of 25 years in the Senate.

Recent Efforts

Kennedy, 56, has concentrated his efforts in recent months on the successful fight against the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Robert Bork and an array of civil and human rights issues. He is pushing for bolstered education and welfare programs as chairman of the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee. Many believe he has been more effective without the presidential specter hanging over him.

“Not being a candidate has given me both time to spend as a legislator and . . . additional credibility as to motives,” Kennedy says. “When you’re a candidate and you talk about an issue, you probably get higher visibility, but you get questioning about your motivation. And when you’re not, you probably get not as high a visibility, but a greater willingness to consider the substance of the matters.”

Kennedy’s decision back in 1985 not to run for President this year--a decision that he concedes likely will block him from ever attaining the nation’s highest office--seems to have removed a weight that he has grappled with since the assassinations of his brothers, Robert and John.

“It’s as if a burden has been lifted from his shoulders,” says Norman Ornstein, a political scientist at the American Enterprise Institute. “He’s clearly operating with more freedom and less pressure than he has in a long time, and I think it shows. There’s a real sense that he’s enjoying his role in the process.”

Kennedy has not tried to take on the role of kingmaker. The handful of campaign sojourns he has made on Dukakis’ behalf is the exception rather than the rule.

Democratic Party Chairman Paul G. Kirk Jr., a former top aide to the senator and a personal friend, believes Kennedy’s low profile in the presidential contest is intentional.

“There’s an appreciation by Sen. Kennedy and others that in introducing a new generation of leaders to the country, they want to establish their own base and independence and profile and not necessarily be introduced by another political figure who in this period is obviously better known,” Kirk says.

Still Has Influence

Kennedy still has influence. Foreign dignitaries visit him, his trip to Poland last year drew international attention, and even Richard M. Nixon suggested recently that Kennedy still would be the Democrats’ best chance of winning the presidency.

“I would guess Ted Kennedy might be the exception to the rule,” says Joe Grandmaison, Democratic Party chairman in New Hampshire. “After you’ve said you’re not going to go for the brass ring, there’s a tendency for you to slip into a less-than-relevant position.”

Back in Massachusetts, Kennedy is preparing for a Senate campaign, holding town meetings throughout the state, even though national GOP strategists hold out little hope of unseating him. His opponent is former Republican state executive director Joe Malone.

Kennedy has made his reelection bid a family affair. His 26-year-old son, Ted, and 27-year-old daughter, Kara, are co-chairs of the reelection effort.

Critics say that Kennedy’s liberal politics are out of step with the American public and even his own party.

“He’s the ultraliberal,” says Alexander Tennant, executive director of the Massachusetts Republican Party. “He’s somewhat out of touch with the average working person.

“He believes in government solving problems, and I think a lot of younger people today believe in free enterprise and helping others to help themselves, not building a huge bureaucracy where government is Big Brother.”

And opponents point to the Rupert Murdoch flap, started when Kennedy quietly pushed through an amendment to prevent the publisher from keeping both TV stations and newspapers in Boston and New York, as an example of arrogance.

Kennedy is also expected to face another wave of controversy stemming from the release of a new book about his 1969 accident at Chappaquiddick, which killed passenger Mary Jo Kopechne. The book, released last month, charges that there was a conspiracy to cover up Kennedy’s role in the accident.

Kennedy’s popularity in Massachusetts overcame the shadows of Chappaquiddick, but the accident loomed large in his presidential campaign. Many believe the senator’s action, swimming to safety when Kopechne was trapped in the car and not reporting the accident until 10 hours later, blocked him from the White House.

Author Leo Damore says in his new book, “Senatorial Privilege: The Chappaquiddick Coverup,” that Kennedy initially wanted to tell police that Mary Jo Kopechne was alone in the car when it plunged off the bridge.

The book, which was published by Regnery Gateway, is based on exclusive interviews with Joseph Gargan, a cousin and close friend of the senator who along with another friend, Paul Markham, returned to the bridge to try to rescue Kopechne from the submerged car.

‘Alternative Ideas’

“Kennedy was having alternative ideas about the situation,” Damore wrote. “Why couldn’t Mary Jo have been driving the car? Why couldn’t she have let him off and driven to the ferry herself and made a wrong turn?”

But Gargan reportedly rejected the idea, noting that the three did not even know if Kopechne could drive or had a license.

The book says Kennedy did not decide to tell police that he was driving until speaking by telephone with aide David Burke. It took about 10 hours for Kennedy to report the accident, an action that he later called “irrational and indefensible and inexcusable and inexplicable.”

Kennedy now says running for President again “has to be considered unlikely.”

But even if a Democrat is elected this year and reelected in 1992, Kennedy would be only 64 by the time the next presidential year rolls around in 1996.

“Who knows what the future brings,” Kerry says. “In politics, all things are possible.”