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Washington: People in Massachusetts suddenly are thinking the unthinkable: Who possibly could succeed Senator Edward Kennedy, patriarch of the famed political family that has dominated the state for more than four decades?
The news about Kennedy's cancerous brain tumour has led to quiet speculation about whether he may try to handpick a successor, possibly paving the way for a relative to take over his seat.
The prospect of Kennedy's eventual departure also has touched off a scramble involving Massachusetts congressmen and others.
Kennedy, 76, is not up for re-election until 2012. But his medical condition has people wondering if he might resign before then or decline to run for another term. Given Kennedy's stature in the Democratic-dominated state, it's a sensitive topic that few in politics are willing to talk about publicly.
"There will be great respect and delicacy, of course," said Tufts University political science professor Jeffrey Berry.
Family business
Over the years, the Kennedys have not shied away from grooming family members for office.
In 1962, Kennedy won the Senate seat that his brother, John, held before winning the presidency in 1960.
The Kennedys helped arrange the appointment of John's old roommate, Benjamin A. Smith, to the seat until Edward Kennedy turned 30 and was legally old enough to run for the Senate. Kennedy has held the seat ever since.
With the senator's health in question, Kennedy's nephew, Joseph Kennedy II, a former member of the House of Representatives from Massachusetts, is seen as a possible heir.
But the younger Kennedy, who provides low-cost heating oil to the poor through Boston-based Citizens Energy Corporation, has balked at running for governor in recent years and shows scant interest in jumping back into politics.
There is the possibility one of the senator's sons, Representative Patrick Kennedy, a Rhode Island Democrat, or Edward Kennedy Jr., could seek their father's seat.
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