Source: Haaretz

By Dina Kraft

Brookline, Mass. – Joseph P. Kennedy III, the young Congressional candidate with the famous last name, pursed his lips and appeared visibly moved when a man at a synagogue campaign stop asked him about his personal connection to Israeli-Palestinian violence and bereavement. Kennedy is quite familiar with the subject, considering his own grandfather, Robert F. Kennedy, was assassinated by a Palestinian gunman enraged by his pro-Israel stance.

The assassination, which occurred just after midnight on June 6, 1968, coincided with the one-year anniversary of the Six-Day War and may have marked the first time the violence of the Middle East conflict was exported to the American stage.

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Source: The Sun Chronicle

Joseph P. Kennedy III, D-Brookline, has become a familiar face around Sun Chronicle country since announcing his candidacy to represent the 4th District in Congress. He’s a likable glad-hander, but has also proved himself a quick study of the area’s political needs as they pertain to Washington, D.C.

Based mostly on his grasp of local issues and the ease with which we expect he will pick up the baton from U.S. Rep. James McGovern in shepherding urban renewal and other municipal measures through the federal bureaucracy, our endorsement in the race for this congressional district, which includes Attleboro and all area towns, goes to Kennedy.

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Source: The Milford Daily News

Congress is a polarized, dysfunctional mess. While a sweeping victory by one party or the other might break the current logjam, it will take a series of reforms – to the filibuster and other rules, to the redistricting process, the electoral process and to campaign financing – to fix it.

Meanwhile, voters must support candidates who share their priorities, but who are willing to sacrifice ideological purity to get things done. Here are our choices in races that touch MetroWest.

For 4th District: Joe Kennedy III

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Source: New Bedford Standard-Times

The 4th Congressional District, though redrawn after the last census, remains highly diverse, from Newton and Brookline south to Fall River’s North End.

The constituents there need congressional leadership that accounts for everyone, and we have confidence that Joe Kennedy III will be the best choice for the 4th District.

His understanding of the differences between unemployment rates in Newton and Fall River are made clear in his position on education, which includes improving access to higher education, reducing college debt and protecting Pell Grants, but particularly in his focus on early education. Besides his expression of the importance of early education, he’s concerned about parents seeing how important it is, too.

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Source: The Rainbow Times

By Chuck Colbert

BOSTON – Massachusetts–The gay-rights question came near the end of the second debate between Republican Sean Bielat and Democrat Joseph P. Kennedy III in the race to fill the seat being vacated by retiring US Representative Barney Frank in the 4th Congressional District.

Sure enough, sharply contrasting answers from the two candidates open a window into their differing philosophies about the rights of gay Americans and their potential for LGBT advocacy.

“The rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are key parts of the American dream,” said Aaron Frechette, editorial page editor of Fall River’s Herald Review, who was one of several people serving on a panel that questioned the candidates at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth’s Advanced Technology and Manufacturing Center where Bielat and Kennedy squared off on Wednesday, Oct 10.

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Source: Providence Journal

We endorse Democrat Joseph P. Kennedy III over Republican Sean Bielat for the redrawn Massachusetts Fourth Congressional District seat being vacated by the retiring Barney Frank.

Mr. Kennedy, 32, is son of former Congressman Joseph P. Kennedy II and grandson of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy. With an undergraduate degree from Stanford and a law degree from Harvard, he has been an assistant district attorney for Middlesex County and was in the Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic.

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Source: The Boston Globe

One overarching question confronts voters in the Fourth Congressional District: How big a chance are they willing to take on a rather untested member of the latest generation of Kennedys? While Joseph Kennedy III carries the most formidable surname in Massachusetts Democratic politics, it’s hard to imagine any other 32-year-old Middlesex County assistant district attorney being treated as a prohibitive favorite for the seat being vacated by liberal icon Barney Frank. Moreover, Kennedy has a strong Republican opponent in 37-year-old Sean Bielat, a Marine reservist and former tech executive who made an energetic showing two years ago against Frank — and whose experience, education, and enthusiasm for public service are in some ways similar to Kennedy’s.

But voters who believe that Frank’s values, issue positions, and tireless advocacy served his district and the country well should take a chance on Kennedy. He has natural political gifts that make up for his inexperience, and voters can feel confident he will grow into an effective advocate for the district.

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Source: Roll Call

By Joshua Miller

HOPKINTON, Mass. — Former Sen. Max Cleland (D-Ga.) told the story here on Saturday of how he came to politics. It began with an undergraduate, floundering at Stetson University, who came upon a picture of fellow students meeting then-Attorney General Robert Kennedy.

As Cleland, a triple-amputee Vietnam War veteran who served in the Senate from 1997 to 2003, spoke about the spark of inspiration that photo lit in his mind, Kennedy’s grandson, Congressional candidate Joe Kennedy III, stood behind him.

Cleland, 70, on a tour of events in support of Democratic Senate nominee Elizabeth Warren, took a few minutes to reflect on the meaning of Kennedy, 32, introducing him. And then he gave the candidate, running for the open seat in the 4th district, his endorsement.

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Source: The Sun Chronicle

By Jim Morrison

WELLESLEY – They disagreed on most issues, from abortion to the economic cliff.

If 4th Congressional District candidates Republican Sean Bielat and Democrat Joseph Kennedy III agreed on anything in their third debate, it was that they had two fundamentally different views of government.

“I am pro-life,” Bielat said when asked about abortion. Kennedy said: “I support a woman’s right to safe, affordable, and confidential health care.”

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Source: Wicked Local Wellesley

By Lee V. Gaines

WELLESLEY — Joe Kennedy III and Sean Bielat quibbled over how to tackle the deficit, create jobs and how to fix the country’s health care system, among other issues dominating both the local and national political conversation during the third debate between the two Fourth Congressional District candidates at Wellesley College on Tuesday evening.

Bielat, a businessman and former Marine, and Kennedy, grandson of former Democratic Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and former prosecutor for the Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office, are engaged in a heated race for the congressional seat held by Rep. Barney Frank for 31 years.

The debate was hosted by the district’s local League of Women Voters, and moderated by Jo-Ann Berry, an Acton resident and member of the town’s local League of Women Voters. The questions were submitted by both League and audience members.

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