looking for a leader. but a leader may be looking for them. you can be sure the organizers don t want to be co-opted by any political party, even the democrats. but you can be just as sure that the democrats are desperate to ride that wave of energy and enthusiasm. if there s a tea party on the left, you may be looking at it. also, mass hysteria. republican scott brown is fighting hard to change the subject after taking a personal shot at rival elizabeth warren s physical appearance. this is just the start of what s going to be the most in-your-face senate race in the country. plus, waiting for superman. or superwoman. chris christie said no. so did sarah palin. rick perry s losing supporters. and rick santorum is hoping to be the guy who picks them up and becomes the big-name conservative in the race. we ll play hardball tonight with rick san storm. santorum. and jon huntsman finally came in first in a straw poll. that s the good news. the bad news is, well, check out the
also, mass hysteria. republican scott brown is fighting hard to change the subject after taking a personal shot at rival elizabeth warren s physical appearance. this is just the start of what s going to be the most in-your-face senate race in the country. plus, waiting for superman. or superwoman. chris christie said no. so did sarah palin. rick perry s losing supporters. and rick santorum is hoping to be the guy who picks them up and becomes the big-name conservative in the race. we ll play hardball tonight with rick san storm. santorum. and jon huntsman finally came in first in a straw poll. that s the good news. the bad news is, well, check out the sideshow. and let me finish tonight with a need to watch the wall street protesters and listen to them for solutions. let s begin with the occupy wall street protests themselves. sherrod brown is a democrat from ohio. senator, if you were standing in wall street with the occupy wall street people, what placard would you be hol
i mean, can you do that in the commercial world, right, susan? very hard to run for congress and say let s hear it for hugo chavez in venezuela, right? i think that s true though a lot of people in massachusetts wonder why their own government isn t giving them discounted oil. right. the thing with patrick, i don t think it needs he needs to be out of the public eye. i think the actual environment of washington, d.c. right now, particularly without his father, is really not good for his health i completely understand anybody who chooses not to run for public office these days. i completely and utterly sympathize with them. a bit of patrick kennedy talking about his decision and his future. let s listen i think of this as kind of a sabbatical now. i mean, there may be a time in the future where i might choose to come back and seek elective office again, but right now, you know, i want a chance to experience another part of life, and and i m very fortunate to have had the cha
ultimately it s personal relationships that matter the most. well, there s a love son. joining me now is boston globe reporter peter canellis and susan mulligan, co-authors of the ted kennedy biography the great one, the last lion. thanks for coming in. peter, let me ask you about this decision, sounds like it s very personal, nothing to do with anything but him but it was the decision that patrick kennedy had to make. i think that s true. he s always been kind of sensitive, and here he s in a situation where his sister had cancer, his father died of cancer, has his own struggles with addiction. his brother had cancer, lost a leg. exactly, and i think it was just at a point where especially with everything going on on the hill right now, it s a poisonous environment, not a good environment. i think he s looking to do one of those kennedy kind of service roles where he s in the private sector and doing something as an advocate. bobby jr. once told me the
in congress. you can see from his emotional outpourings he s really coping with a lot of loneliness right now. i agree with susan. it s better for him to be out of congress. do you have a sense, peter, that if you re a kennedy guy, once ted passed were you vulnerable? greg craig getting shot at in the white house but who knows you and patrick getting a lot of heat from the church. all this seemed to be coming after the passing and loss of ted. it s almost like the carter expedition with king tut s tomb. everybody that was a kennedy guy is getting targeted. am i wrong? no, you re not wrong, but ted kennedy had a lot of power. he had a large group of people, some of them dating back to his brother s administration, many of them though, you know, sort of coming up through his senate office, you know, who were major, major figures and kennedy was an enormous fixed point on the american political landscape and with him gone they have lost their leader. tommy menino, mumbles, love