Oct 16, 2017 3 min read

Following last year’s gobsmacking loss in the presidential election, Democrats are looking for a savior to lead them out of the wilderness.

Once the 2018 midterms are past, jockeying will start in earnest for the 2020 presidential contest. And Democrats are still not sure who a suitable Trump-slayer would be, presuming the president runs for another term.

Could it be a former or current governor, like Martin O’Malley of Maryland or Terry McAuliffe of Virginia? Former Vice President Joseph Biden, who will be blowing out 78 candles on his birthday cake just a couple of weeks after the next presidential election? Someone who could potentially reassemble Barack Obama’s winning coalition, like former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick or Sen. Kamala Harris of California?

Oprah?

Very occasionally you hear people mention U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy III of Massachusetts. The grandson of the late U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, the red-haired congressman has the familiar sweep of Kennedy locks and, of course, that magical last name. The only Kennedy on Capitol Hill right now, the odds that Kennedy will actually seek the Democratic presidential nomination in ’20 are infinitesimal – no one has leapt from the U.S. House of Representatives to the White House since James Garfield in 1880, and Kennedy has every reason to bide his time and keep his powder dry – he will only be 40 when votes are cast in 2020.

Should Biden demonstrate that voters will accept a presidential candidate hovering near 80, that means Kennedy could be in the thick of the 2060 race.

The fact that a boyish congressional backbencher has been mentioned as a presidential prospect demonstrates the powerful grip the Kennedy mystique continues to have on a large segment of the American public. The number of Americans who remember Camelot is dwindling – someone who was a 10-year-old when John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 would now be eligible to collect Social Security – and the Bushes of Texas and Florida have since supplanted the Kennedys as America’s most potent political dynasty. But the optimism, the charisma and, of course, the tragedy that surrounds JFK and RFK continues to evoke nostalgia, even by voters who haven’t necessarily been enamored by any of the Kennedys’ Democratic successors.

Consider the fascination that still surrounds a visit Kennedy made to Southwest Pennsylvania in October 1962. Kennedy passed through both Washington and Monessen Oct. 13, 1962, in a sweep through the Pittsburgh region campaigning for Democratic candidates. Audio of Kennedy’s remarks in both cities has been preserved and can be heard online via the Kennedy presidential library at www.jfklibrary.org, but memories of the event remain vivid for those who were there. As the Observer-Reporter noted on its front page Monday, those who were present in Monessen still recall the coal truck that pulled out in front of Kennedy’s motorcade – that would never, ever happen today – and the hush that fell over the crowd before Kennedy’s six-minute address.

They also remember that the issues Kennedy addressed – jobs and the minimum wage – continue to prompt argument and debate 55 years later.

In fact, Kennedy’s presidency itself prompts argument and debate among historians a half-century after its devastating conclusion. Was he one of our best chief executives, or does he belong more in the middle of the pack? Would he have been able to avoid the traps that snared his successors, such as the Vietnam War? These debates will probably be ongoing 50 years from now. What’s clear in the here and now is that Kennedys continue to captivate us the way few other political clans can.