RFK JR. IS GREEN, BUT NOT WITH ENVY

Bobby Kennedy Jr. is cheering on his cousin Caroline as she makes a run for Hillary Clinton’s Senate seat. But some Democrats still wonder why the “better-qualified Kennedy” isn’t laying claim to the office his father once held.

“Caroline is a smart woman, but expecting her to fight for New York in the U.S. Senate is like sending a butterfly collector into an NFL football game,” says a Kennedy intimate. “Bobby has proven his toughness in battling polluters and other arenas. The guy was willing to serve 30 days in jail to stop military exercises in Vieques, Puerto Rico.”

Another Democratic strategist concurs: “Bobby has a record of activism. Caroline has been involved in education. But she’s so shy. Your pedigree doesn’t qualify you to be a senator.”

Bobby did give serious thought to the Senate during a recent trip to Bhutan with wife Mary. When he returned, he consulted with his uncle, Sen. Ted Kennedy, his siblings, and with Caroline. But on Dec. 2, he announced in The New York Times that he’d decided that, if Gov. Paterson appointed him to the Senate, the campaign for reelection in 2010 would mean he’d rarely see his family.

Friends say there were other considerations. “Bobby knew the Republicans would bring up his heroin bust and who knows what else,” says one source. “He could handle it, but he didn’t want to subject his kids to it.”

The Senate salary was also an issue. As Bobby told us recently, “I have six mouths to feed.” A friend notes, “The Kennedys are not as rich as people think they are. He’s finally making a decent living. He gives well over 100 speeches a year and consults for companies.”

Mostly, adds the friend, “Bobby’s happy with what he’s accomplishing. He doesn’t feel it’s his manifest destiny to be a senator.”

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