Only RI voters would continue to elect someone who has admitted to being a drug-addict for decades.

Kennedy has obviously gone through a lot in the last few years. For somebody who began as a rockstar, blasted onto the RI pol scene, elected to congress, was in the Democratic leadership of the US House as chair of the DCCC and a sought after party speaker and fundraiser. It seems that since that he has gone downhill. Scandals, massive crazy staff changes,disclosures of drug use and weird behavior. why? This guy needs a handler bad. Well I wish him the best for RI's sake

As seen on TV:

"HI! Billy Mays here for Oxy-Clean!"

Shall we all chip in and send a bottle to Patrick? ;-)

Ok, we can all get a lot of laughs making fun of Patrick . . . but here's a good question:

Is there any way that we will be able to defeat him in the foresseable future?

What's the formula?

If the GOP ran a pro-choice woman who made an issue of Patrick's support of Ralph Mollis (any exploitation ofn his substance problems would backfire), that could work. The Kennedy-bashing macho more-conservative-than-thou approach hasn't worked, Mr. Rogers.

Back to the lab Rhody . . . I just don't see Ralph Mollis as the issue that will defeat Patrick.

Frankly, I don't blame Patrick for the fact that Rhode Islanders seem willing to vote for him no matter what he does or says . . . I blame the voters and the Republican Party which seems unable to come up with anyone who has better appeal to his district . . .

Hi!
Thoughts on Patrick:
1.Will any notable and/or well founded Democrat take him on in a party primary?
2.In 2008 there could be another Democratic tide especially in heavily Democratic Rhode Island.It likely won't be easy running as a Republican next year in most places in Rhode Island.
3.Politics can be unpredictable.Even former Congressman Fernand J. St.Germain was defeated after many decades in the First Congressional District with his troubles.
Regards,
Scott

Patrick will not be beaten on his own personal problems, nor on the issues.

I am convinced that the only person who could beat Patrick would be a person with similar celebrity status -- a film star or star athlete, for example.

Also, a revered former office holder coming back (a Linc Almond type, for example) might be able to do it. I don't think Almond is the one, but that type of figure.

That's the kind of person we should be looking for.

Liberals are not wedded to Patrick, or the Kennedy name. His surname is no longer an automatic winner - look at Bobby's kids. Kathleen Townsend lost for Maryland governor. Max got laughed out of a congressional race.
Liberals would vote Patrick out, if given a viable alternative. His political thrill ride is wearing on a lot of people. It just depends how badly Republicans want his seat. As long as ideological purity (which Dave Rogers provided in spades) remains the main concern for Republicans when picking an opponent, Patrick can snort speedballs on a debate stage and get re-elected.

Patrick Kennedy is a cash cow for RI Democrats. The nightmare scenario for Rhode Island Democrats would be Kennedy walking away from politics to get healthy. You're kidding yourself if you think the party and their broader constituents is not wedded to this poor pathetic child in a big big way.

What you need is a clean new democrat to run against Kennedy. Somebody with some name recognition but with no negatives. Somebody with money to counter the Kennedy money and money and good tv can buy name recognition. A person with a family and stability that will counter Kennedy's image. There has to be somebody.

You got it, Tim. (Welcome back, by the way.) Whoever said the Kennedy name is wearing off is unfortunately wrong, at least in RI at the moment, and the biggest dividend of the name is fundraising.