Word: chappaquiddick
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...been more than 28 months since Senator Edward Kennedy drove a car off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island, causing the death by drowning of Mary Jo Kopechne and, some thought, fatally injuring his chances of ever becoming President. In this survey, the TIME bureau chiefs who with the help of 76 local correspondents will report on the five major regions for the 1972 campaign were asked whether Ted could defeat Richard Nixon?with particular emphasis on the residue of Chappaquiddick. Their answers are not a forecast but a reading of present sentiment; any number of factors could change the situation...
...York Bureau Chief Frank McCulloch is responsible for New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and Delaware, with 98 electoral votes. Chappaquiddick will indeed be an issue, and it will hurt Kennedy?but not enough to offset his strengths. A Kennedy candidacy would make a Nixon-Kennedy election largely a personality contest, and the Kennedy charisma would outweigh Chappaquiddick, although the impact of the bridge would vary from state to state. He would probably lose in Delaware and Maryland. Chappaquiddick would reduce his chances in Pennsylvania to at best an even choice. But the freer lifestyles of New York...
...liability of Chappaquiddick might lessen Kennedy's advantage in his home region, but it would not eliminate it, and he could carry the area quite comfortably. All of New England is suffering from a lagging economy, giving any Democrat a chance to win in the less conservative states. Kennedy could easily carry Rhode Island and his home state of Massachusetts, where he won re-election after Chappaquiddick, although by a reduced margin. Even Republican pros give Teddy an edge in Connecticut. In Maine, the issue would not be Chappaquiddick or the economy; it would be home-state resentment of Kennedy...
...appearance is unkempt. To people here, he seems to talk funny and think differently. Southerners will not forget that Kennedy supported Charles Evers in Mississippi, that he was an early Viet Nam dove and that he helped sabotage Haynsworth and Carswell. The code word for all these attitudes is "Chappaquiddick." The word is heard often and is used, says Alabama Democratic State Chairman Bob Vance, "like a kick in the groin." In the Deep South most folks criticize Kennedy for having an unmarried girl in his car, which offends Southern Baptist fundamentalism. In the more moderate upper South, folks talk...
...Chappaquiddick does have a bite here, particularly in the Bible Belt areas of Kansas and Nebraska and in the Catholic pockets of Wisconsin. The suggestion that Kennedy, a married man, might have been involved with a single woman pains many. The Democratic Party pros seem to feel more strongly about the issue than many rank-and-file Democrats. When asked about Ted, Democratic state chairmen here tend to snap: "He's the fellow who went off the bridge." To carry the area, Kennedy would have to break through in such large states as Wisconsin, Missouri, Ohio and Illinois...