When retiring Congressman Patrick Kennedy leaves DC in the next week or two, it marks the end of an American milestone, notes the Boston Globe. No Kennedy will be in the House, the Senate, or the White House for the first time since 1947—the year a not-yet-30 JFK became a Massachusetts congressman. Kennedy-philes have hope, however, because at least four family members—including RFK Jr. and Teddy's widow, Vicki—could conceivably gain office before long.
As for Patrick: “I feel liberated to try to live a life as foreign to me as anything—a life outside of politics,’’ he tells the Globe. "I’m actually for the first time in my life venturing out on my own. This is unfamiliar territory.’’ (More Patrick Kennedy stories.)