Kennedy Koverage

I think it's reasonable for me to expect our local dailies to be repositories, and dispensaries, of vast stores of Kennedy knowledge and trivia.

So I was a little disappointed in the Globe's Mark Arsenault, who listed only six names in his piece about congressional candidate Joe Kennedy III's fundraising (bolding mine):

Kennedy reported donations from a number of family members, including his father, Joseph Kennedy II, former US representative; Patrick Kennedy, a former Rhode Island congressman, and Ted Kennedy Jr., sons of the late US Senator Edward M. Kennedy; Victoria Reggie Kennedy, the senator’s widow; Jean Kennedy Smith, former US ambassador; and Maria Shriver. 

I assume Arsenault cut the list off there for the sake of brevity, so as to include other, perhaps more politically germane information in his article.

For shame! These are the Kennedys!

I am here to pick up the slack for all Kennedyphiles out there. I'm no Kennedy family expert, so I'm sure I'm not catching them all, but here are some of the others from the extended clan who gave to Young Joe:

--children of Robert and Ethel Kennedy and their spouses: Kerry Kennedy, Rory Kennedy, Sheila Kennedy, Victoria Strauss Kennedy;

--children of Patricia Kennedy and Peter Lawford: Christopher Lawford, Robin Lawford, Sydney McKelvy ;

--child of Victoria Reggie Kennedy: Caroline Raclin;

--ex-wife of Joe Kennedy II Sheila Rauch (Joe III's mother), and several members of the Rauch family;

--children of Eunice Mary Kennedy and Robert Sargent Shriver Jr., and their spouses: Alina Shriver, Anthony Shriver, Mark Shriver, Robert Shriver

--children of Jean Ann Kennedy and Stephen Edward Smith, Sr.: Stephen E. Smith Jr., William K. Smith

I won't get into the gossip about which parts of the family have and haven't pitched in -- yet. That seems like something more appropriate for after the 2nd quarter report.

I will note that there's a relative paucity of super celebrities among Joe's early donors, compared to what you might expect -- although I am impressed that he has both the real-life and fictional ex-wives of Larry David (Laurie David and Cheryl Hines). Others include architect Frank Gehry, entertainment titan Sumner Redstone, and filmaker Michael Moore.

I assume more bold names will come once fundraising season begins on Martha's Vineyard.

The donor list is also thick with what are commonly called "Ted people." Arsenault listed several, but there's also Nick Littlefield, Thomas Quinn, and many others.

I can also add a little to the question of where the money came from. As Arsenault reported, about a third, $436,000 or so, came from donors in Massachusetts. According to my data from the FEC report, about $240,000 came from New York, $171,000 from California, and $150,000 from the capital region of DC, Maryland, and Virginia.