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| Lieut Gov of Maryland 2002 Kathleen Kennedy Townsend and Kemi Omololu-Olunloyo campaign volunteer |
She is an American attorney who was the sixth Lieutenant Governor of Maryland from 1995 to 2003. She ran unsuccessfully for Governor of Maryland in 2002. Kathleen was born in Greenwich, Connecticut, the eldest of Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Kennedy's 11 children, and the eldest grandchild of Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. and Rose Kennedy. She was named for her aunt Kathleen Agnes Kennedy. It was not assumed that the girls in the politically oriented Kennedy family would run for office or become public persons, while she was growing up. However, after her uncle President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, her father wrote her saying, "As the oldest of the next generation you have a particular responsibility..... Be kind to others and work for your country."
She worked on her uncle Ted Kennedy's 1980 presidential campaign and I also decided to volunteer for her Governorship campaign, afterall she and Governor Glendening gave me a volunteer award at something I did BEST. Although we LOST, it was an experience for me to work with a Kennedy.
In the Maryland gubernatorial election of 2002, Townsend faced off against Republican Robert Ehrlich and Libertarian Spear Lancaster. It was a tight campaign and we worked hard! During the campaign, Townsend was criticized for her choice of running mate, Admiral Charles R. Larson, a novice politician who had switched parties only a few weeks before. Larson was also a white male, unlikely to help minority turnout. Ehrlich's running mate was Michael Steele, an African-American lawyer who had been chairman of the Republican Party of Maryland.
Looking back now that we have a black President, for me race did not have to determine getting minority votes. I went out to volunteer for her because of the good public servant she was. Afterall this is a woman who never used her Kennedy name in a previous race. She believed in run as you are.
Though Maryland traditionally votes Democratic and had not elected a Republican Governor in almost 40 years, Townsend lost the race, gaining 48% of the vote to Ehrlich's 51% and Lancaster's 1%. Ehrlich became only the seventh Republican governor in state history. The Baltimore Sun said the defeat derailed her political career, at least in the short run.
Today, She is an adjunct professor at the Georgetown Public Policy Institute, a visiting fellow at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, and senior Nitze fellow at St. Mary's College of Maryland. She has also written books and also member of several boards.
With Files from Wikipedia
God Bless the Kennedys.
