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We Can Hope
Prologue
1994
On the night of July 14th, 1994, Patrick Kennedy, along with a few of his friends, stumbled out of a bar. It was late at night, near 11:00 p.m., and they were making their way back to their car so they could go home. They’d been out drinking to celebrate Patrick’s 27th birthday, and all but one of them were completely intoxicated. While on the way back to the car, Kennedy kept pestering his friends to let him drive home. The designated driver of the group told him no every time he asked. After being refused the privilege of driving one time too many, Kennedy became angry and started swearing. He demanded to be the one that got to drive home. One last time, the designated driver told him no, and reminded him that he was running for Congress that year. Then, the designated driver made a huge mistake. While telling Kennedy no, he said that the last thing that Patrick needed was “your own Chappaquiddick.” Obviously a reference to the infamous Chappaquiddick incident that his father, Senator Ted Kennedy, was involved in, the comment enraged Patrick. Ordinarily, he would have told his friend to screw off, but the alcohol in his system clouded his judgment. Add that on top of the anger he already felt at not being allowed to drive, and the final result was one very pissed off Patrick Kennedy. He called his friend a bastard and attacked him. He managed to land a few good punches on the other guy’s face, resulting in a black eye and some bad bruising. While Kennedy’s other friends tried to pull him away, a police cruiser happened upon the brawl, and pulled over. They witnessed Kennedy assaulting another person, and quickly arrested him for battery.
Kennedy was held overnight and released the next morning after his friend refused to press charges. He apologized to his friend the next morning, and everything was fine between them from then on. However, news of Kennedy’s arrest was picked up by the press. The next day, the story of how Kennedy was arrested for battery was plastered on the front page of almost every major newspaper in Rhode Island, and the story received coverage on TV as well, with the story appearing on every local news station in the state. The story even received brief coverage on national television. The effects on Kennedy’s campaign for congress were brutal. Kennedy had been leading in most of the polls since early in the year, but that changed almost overnight. With the election in November, Kennedy’s Republican opponent, Kevin Vigilante, was busy throwing everything he had into trying to beat him. And now, thanks to Kennedy’s arrest, Vigilante had a surge of support in the polls. He also benefited from being able to use the incident as a talking point during the campaign. He emphasized Kennedy’s youth and inexperience by using the incident to paint him as undisciplined and irresponsible while at the same time promoting his own candidacy. Despite Vigilante’s efforts, Kennedy still managed to come close to defeating him, but ultimately, Vigilante won the day. Thus, Patrick Kennedy became another casualty of the Republican Revolution while Kevin Vigilante was off to congress.
Results of Rhode Island’s 1st Congressional District election, 1994
Kevin Vigilante (R) - 51.3%
Patrick Kennedy (D) - 48.7%
1996
Jesse Jackson was busy trying to talk sense into his son. Jesse Jackson Jr. wanted to make a run for the House of Representatives that year, and he seemed set on his decision. His father thought that it wasn’t the best idea. He thought his son would do better running for office on the state level rather than the national level in order to build up experience in office, and he had a plan in motion for that very thing to happen. Jackson had a way to ensure that his son would be able to win if he were to try such a thing. The elder Jackson had approached State Senator Alice Palmer earlier in the year with a simple proposal. Jackson and his son would endorse Palmer for her congressional campaign that year, and help her to get elected. In return, Jackson Jr. would receive her endorsement for the state senate seat she would be vacating that year, all but ensuring him victory if he were to run for it. It seemed like the perfect plan. However, as stated before, Jackson Jr. was opposed to it. His father kept trying to get him to see reason, but he would not budge from his position. He kept saying that he was ready for that kind of national level campaign and attempted to justify his reasoning to his father by providing him with an analogy. If Patrick Kennedy was ready to run for Congress when he was 26, then he was ready to run when he was 30. His father then pointed out that Kennedy had lost his bid for congress because his age crippled his judgment, and claimed that the same thing would happen to his son. Jackson Jr. tried to argue that Kennedy made bad decisions that he himself would not make, but a seed of doubt was planted in his head. Now unsure of his decision, he went to go see David Wilhelm, the former Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, for approval. If Wilhelm said yes, then he would do it. However, Wilhelm happened to agree with his father about the younger Jackson’s age, and even cited Patrick Kennedy in his explanation of why he didn’t think that it was a good idea. Wilhelm’s opinion was the one that finally convinced Jackson Jr. to drop his plans for Congress, and agreed to the plan laid out by his father. Jackson Jr. easily won the Democratic primary, and was elected to the Illinois State Senate, succeeding Alice Palmer. Palmer herself, thanks to the endorsement of Jackson Jr. and his father, went on to win the Democratic primary, and easily defeated her Republican opponent in November.
1998
Carol Mosley-Braun was in massive trouble for her re-election campaign to the United States Senate. Tarred by scandal over previous actions while serving in the Senate, as well as being a source for incredibly damaging campaign gaffes and her frequency in making them. In 1998, however, she was the only one running in the Democratic primary for the Senate seat, with no suitable candidates coming forward to try to challenge her. Officially, since they presently had no alternative, the Democratic leadership continued to support Mosley-Braun simply because she was the only one running. However, that did not stop them from keeping an eye out for possible replacements. Illinois was a traditionally blue state, and Democrats usually did well there, but what really opened up the idea of a primary challenger to Mosley-Braun was Newt Gingrich’s attempt to impeach Bill Clinton, and how it was dragging the Republican Party’s popularity down with him.
The election should have been an easy Democratic hold, but Mosley-Braun was screwing it up. Polls frequently showed her behind a Republican challenger, and it wasn’t likely that she would be able to recover without a lot of help from high-profile endorsements from popular Democrats. The party wanted to capitalize on this pro-democratic year, and Mosley-Braun was turning into a liability by damaging their chances at holding their seat. One candidate that was approached for the job was Jesse Jackson Jr., the son of the reverend Jesse Jackson, who was a well-known, albeit slightly controversial, figure in the Democratic Party. Jackson Jr. declined interest in challenging Mosley-Braun for the nomination, but agreed to keep an eye out for any possible new candidates.
That challenger came from the unlikeliest of places. More specifically, it came in the form of a constitutional law professor at the University of Chicago Law School named Barack Obama. Obama was a man who was very interested in politics, and wanted to enter government for quite some time. His first attempt to venture into politics came in 1996, when he was considering launching a bid for the Illinois State Senate to succeed Alice Palmer, who declined to run again in favor of running for Congress. However, his hopes of entering into the primary were shot down upon the entry of Jesse Jackson Jr. into the primary. Knowing that there was no way he could possibly contest Jackson for the nomination seriously, Obama decided to put his political ambitions in cold storage, and waited for another opportunity to present itself. That opportunity came in the form of Carol Mosley-Braun.
Obama had been watching the train wreck that was Mosley-Braun’s re-election bid, and saw potential. Mosley-Braun was clearly unpopular and lagged behind in the polls, even though the Democrats should have been having no troubles keeping that seat. Around April, Obama had heard rumors circulating that the Democrats were looking for potential challengers to the incumbent senator. He started thinking about the idea of entering the race as soon as he heard that. It started out as a small thought in the back of his head, but as he heard more of what Mosley-Braun had to say, and as she made gaffe after gaffe, he began to seriously consider it. He was old enough, he was certainly intelligent enough, and his wife had said that she would support him if he wanted to try. Sometime in May, his mind was made up, and he decided to give it a shot. Before he had done that, however, he decided to seek advice from someone. He made an appointment to visit Jesse Jackson Jr., and brought his case before the Senator. He told Jackson of his interest in running, and also said that his decision to run rested on whether or not Jackson himself intended to challenge Mosley-Braun, which was the only thing that would keep him out of the race. Jackson told Obama that he was not running, and said he would see what he would do for him. About a week later, Obama received a visit from Jesse Jackson Sr.
The elder Jackson met with Obama in late May, and Obama invited him over for dinner to discuss the possibility of a primary challenge to Mosley-Braun. Jackson left the dinner somewhat impressed with Obama, but not entirely sure that he was up to the job. He passed Obama’s name on to his friends and left it up to them to decide whether or not Obama was capable or not. Over the next few weeks, Obama began to receive visits from a number of Democratic leaders in the state who spoke with him and judged whether or not he would be a good candidate for the Senate. Eventually, the vote was in, and the majority of them decided that Obama would be able to do it. After some more debate, they gave the go-ahead, and approached Obama with a promise to support him if he ran.
Barack Obama declared his intention to challenge Carol Mosley-Braun for her Senate seat in early June. As promised, he gained a number of high-profile endorsements from important Democratic leaders in the state and even some from the national level. Two of his most important endorsements came from State Senator Jesse Jackson Jr. and his father, the Reverend Jesse Jackson Sr. However, Obama’s challenge to Mosley-Braun did not truly bear fruit until the first debate between the two in Chicago, which was televised and drew in a large audience from across the state. In the debate, Mosley-Braun came was largely dismissive of Obama and implied more than once that the only reason he was running because he was sexist and couldn’t stand to see a woman in the Senate. By contrast, Obama gave a very favorable performance, answering questions openly and honestly. He used the debate effectively to draw sharp contrasts between himself and Mosley-Braun, and it worked.
Barack Obama defeated Carol Mosley-Braun in the Democratic Primary and went on to secure the nomination for the United States Senate. While campaigning against his main opponent, Republican State Senator Peter Fitzgerald, Obama received endorsements from high-profile national figures, the most famous being the endorsement of Vice President Al Gore. After a long and hard-fought election, Barack Obama defeated Peter Fitzgerald and was elected to the United States Senate.
Results of the United States Senate election in Illinois, 1998