Projo Politics Blog

PROVIDENCE -- Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, the Democratic Party’s liberal lion, and his son, Rhode Island Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy, will endorse Barack Obama for president today, giving the Illinois senator a new jolt of momentum in his campaign against New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton for the Democratic nomination.

Projo.com will carry live video of the event, which starts at 12:15 p.m. at a rally for Obama on the Washington, D.C., campus of American University.

The Kennedy endorsements come in the wake of Obama’s historic landslide victory Saturday in South Carolina’s primary. More important, they arrive eight days before the round of 22 state primaries and caucuses on Feb. 5 that loom as a de facto national primary that could decide whether Clinton or Obama wins the nomination.

In an interview yesterday, Patrick Kennedy said he and Edward Kennedy will be joined by Caroline Kennedy, the only surviving child of the late President John F. Kennedy, who announced her support of Obama this weekend.

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-- Journal staff writer Scott MacKay

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