Representative William Delahunt, Democrat of Massachusetts, was speaking by phone Friday about the decision of his colleague Patrick Kennedy not to seek re-election in Rhode Island. In doing so, Mr. Delahunt, who has yet to say whether he will seek re-election himself this year, might have signaled a hint about his own future.
"He went through a process that all of us in public life go through," said Mr. Delahunt of Mr. Kennedy. "Honestly, I am going through that process myself."
Mr. Delahunt, who has served in Congress since 1997, said he would announce whether he would seek re-election in March.
Delahunt, as you may know, occupies a district that Obama won by 55-44 in 2008, Kerry by 56-43 in '04, and Gore by 54-39 in 2000. Yet Republicans view his seat as their ripest pick-up opportunity in the state after Scott Brown handily carried the district last month in the state's special Senate election. Republicans actually have a bench to choose from here: ex-state Treasurer Joe Malone has begun polling for the race, and state Rep. Jeffrey Perry is already in.
For the Democrats, there has been some buzz about Joe Kennedy III swapping himself in, but that's yet to be substantiated as anything more than idle chatter at this point.
