Kennedy Hints at Making Bid for Presidency

WASHINGTON —  Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) Saturday signaled his interest in running for the presidency in 1988, hinting that he no longer feels constrained by his family.

In an interview with the Boston Globe, Kennedy said: “I’ve always said I’d like to be President someday, though my sense from my own contacts with people around the country is that they’re still too exhausted from the last election to be focusing on the next one.”

He added: “I will maintain my political committee and contacts, and hopefully that is something that could be readily activated should any decision come.”

The Globe quoted senior Kennedy advisers as saying that a decision is at least a year away.

Kennedy was defeated in his 1980 bid for the Democratic nomination by President Jimmy Carter. He did not run in 1984, citing personal and family considerations. But he told his hometown newspaper: “My children and the other members of my family I feel responsible for are clearly doing very well today.”