Tough Time for Teddy

By Jill Smolowe

Blessed by his bloodlines, Edward Moore Kennedy should have been able to count on the adjective "incumbent" as a perpetual political heirloom. Even in this season of electoral discontent with the vagaries and pomposities of politics, his Kennedy and Fitzgerald legacy retains magic. In spite of scandal, the Senator still polls a "favorable" rating of 57%. But Kennedy is discovering that admiration no longer translates into support.

It seems a particularly vicious irony that Kennedy's political opponent is the mirror image of the veteran Senator's former self. Republican Mitt Romney is young, trim and drop-dead handsome. His life mocks Kennedy's controversial past: the Republican is a teetotaler, a never-divorced family man and a self- made millionaire. That should be trouble enough on the campaign trail. But Kennedy faces a far stiffer obstacle: his constituents crave change simply for the sake of change.

In Massachusetts, the hunger is not fueled by the sweep-the-bum-out mentality that is rattling other incumbents. Rather, it is a vague sense that Kennedy's time is up. Months before Romney gained his lock on the Republican candidacy, veteran G.O.P. pollster Richard Wirthlin came up with some surprising statistics: while 43% of voters favored Kennedy's re-election, 50% did not. "His numbers are perfectly good," says Boston Globe pollster Gerry Chervinsky, "but half the people think it's time for a change." And a poll released last week by the Globe shows that while 52% of voters think Kennedy is doing an excellent or above-average job, 49% believe it is time to give someone else a chance. The contest is a statistical dead heat, with Kennedy running 48% to Romney's 46% -- in a state where Republicans account for only 13% of registered voters.

Bay Staters hold Romney's business experience in high regard: 52% believe it to be appropriate preparation for a job in the Senate, compared with just 39% three months ago. The son of former Michigan Governor and 1968 presidential candidate George Romney, young Romney made his millions during the '80s as a venture capitalist in Boston. He argues that while his businesses have helped create 10,000 jobs, Kennedy's activities only funnel in federal grants: that is, funds derived from taxes. "Ted has never had a job in 32 years," Romney charges. "He has no idea how to create jobs, except with government money."

To counter Romney's image as a family man, Kennedy is campaigning with Victoria, 40, his telegenic wife of two years. He is also fighting back with the first negative campaign of his political life. He is skeptical about Romney's job-creation claims. He has noted that while Romney says he favors universal health-care coverage, none of the part-time employees at Staples, the successful office-supplies chain that Romney helped establish, receive such coverage from the company. (Then again, part-timers usually don't.) Last week Kennedy even introduced religion into the race, demanding to know if Romney, a member of the Mormon Church, supported church policies that until 1978 excluded black men from serving as priests. Romney quickly reminded voters how the Democrat's brother had to fend off questions about his Catholicism during his run for the presidency.

The battle is going to escalate. Romney, who expects to invest $7 million in the ad wars, has outspent Kennedy up till now. Michael Kennedy, the Senator's nephew and campaign manager, vows this imbalance will be stopped. "We will not be outspent in this regard."

With reporting by Sam Allis/Boston