Massachusetts: Wave of Neutrality

To hear the agonizing in Boston last week, you'd have thought that Cardinal Gushing was running against the Pope—the choice was that hard. In the rough-and-tumble world of Massachusetts Democratic politics, where a moment's indecision can make a roomful of enemies, politicians were struck by a sudden outbreak of public neutrality. The cause of it all was Edward M. ("Ted") Kennedy's long-expected announcement that he is a candidate for the U.S. Senate. That would ordinarily be a fine thing—except that Ted thus placed himself on a collision course with another dynastic figure: State Attorney General Edward McCormack, 38, nephew of...