Two Kennedy cousins running for Senate in 2012?

Is there a chance that two Kennedy cousins might be running for the United States Senate 2012? I certainly hope so. There's speculation that Ted Kennedy, Jr., the one of the late Ted Kennedy, might run for the now-open Connecticut seat with Joe Lieberman's retirement announcement.

The late U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy’s son, Ted Jr., is among the names being floated as potential candidates for Connecticut U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman’s seat in 2012.

Kennedy, the middle child of the late senator and his former wife, Joan, has been mentioned as a possible candidate for Lieberman’s seat, which the 23-year senator is giving up when his term ends next year. One Kennedy family friend called the 49-year-old attorney, who lives in Connecticut, a “great candidate.”

“No one knew Lieberman would be getting out. I think Teddy would be the odds-on favorite were he to enter the race,” the friend said. “But I don’t know if this is the right time for him.”

Another Kennedy insider said Ted Kennedy Jr. is a “natural” for the seat.

“Why wouldn’t he be interested in the seat?” said the source. “He is his father’s son.”[...]

His inspirational eulogy at his father’s 2009 funeral had some observers eyeing him for higher office.

As for Joe Kennedy III, some are speculating that he could run for his great-uncle's seat in 2012.

The musings of an obscure assistant district attorney about the national political scene don’t typically generate any buzz.

But when said ADA is named Kennedy and his utterance comes on the floor of the Great and General Court, almost 50 years to the day after his great-uncle John F. Kennedy took the rostrum to deliver his “City on a Hill” speech, things can be a little different.

So when Joseph P. Kennedy III on Tuesday publicly deplored the “atmosphere of hate” enveloping American politics, hitting themes similar to those uttered by the president-elect 50 years ago -- “men of dedication, with an honor mortgaged to no single individual or group, and compromised by no private obligation or aim, but devoted solely to serving the public good and the national interest” -- the discussion on Beacon Hill rapidly turned to whether the family had, at last, found an heir to the great family legacy, and a real politico among the fourth generation removed from the ward politics of Boston. A run against Republican Sen. Scott Brown next year, perhaps, or a bid to take one of the state’s nine post-redistricting House seats.

Bay State sources said Kennedy eyed the open House seat that Rep. Bill Delahunt vacated last year, and was circulated by strategists close to the family in 2009 in case a seat had opened in the rush to succeed his uncle, Sen. Edward Kennedy.

“He’s definitely in the market to run for office. That was clearly evident today,” said state Sen. Anthony Petruccelli, who represents the East Boston district where presidential grandfather P.J. Kennedy founded the clan’s dynastic roots.

G-d, I hope we get more Kennedy members in Washington. And soon.