Cape Politics

You Can't Get There From Here

So move

The recent news that Joseph P. Kennedy, the 3rd, has transfered out of the Cape and Island District Attorney's Office into the Middlesex DA's office implies that his political embers could not be sufficiently stoked here.

It is an unfortunate fact that running for higher office from Cape Cod is a difficult path to travel for a Democrat.

Middesex County means Cambridge (and Harvard), and was the seat of his father's and great uncle's former congressional district. No small coincidence.  Joe II, shown on right with Joe III, moved to Brighton from Scituate when he was ready to enter the family business.  His served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from the 8th congressional district of Massachusetts from 1987 to 1999.

Follow his father's footsteps?

So Joe The 3rd, may also be planning a run for Congress from a more amenable district, the so- called "minority district" of the state's congressional delegation. Currently represented by Michael Capuano of Somerville, once rumored to be running for the Senate this year, Capuano maybe planning a run for J.F. Kerry's seat when it comes up again in 2014.

That would be the opening Joe The 3rd would be looking for if he were interested in Congress. But do not discount the possibility that he is instead pursuing a path to the Statehouse through his proximity to Cambridge and Boston.  The Governor's race will be heating up again around that time as well, and everyone knows, that's the best  job in Massachusetts.

Or maybe his sights are set on City Hall, if he chooses to live in the Boston neighborhoods, to run for Mayor, like his great-great grandfather John F. "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald.

It is an unfortunate fact that running for higher office from Cape Cod is a difficult path to travel for a Democrat. It is blocked by a fragmented Democratic delegation at the Statehouse and an ensconced Republican one at the County.

Whether destined for the halls of Congress or the Statehouse, Joe The 3rd, got himself over the bridge just in time. Wonder what role the Cape and Islands District Attorney's current troubles had in his decision to go now.