Institute honoring Ted Kennedy envisioned

BOSTON, Aug. 12 (UPI) -- Friends of U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., have stepped up plans for a research institute focused on the senator's political career.

A nonprofit organization, the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate, is organizing a $50 million fundraising campaign. The said they hope to build classrooms, research areas, exhibits and a replica of the U.S. Senate chambers at a site near the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston, The Boston Globe reported Tuesday.

"We're getting together a mission statement and brochure and letter and materials appropriate for captains to ask their natural constituents to help," lead organizer and Boston businessman Jack Connors told the Globe. "I hate to lead with my chin but I have to say it's one of the easiest sells I've been involved in."

Backers say the institute will be bipartisan in focus.

"Everybody wants to see this go forward," Boston Mayor Thomas Menino said. "It really is a model about government, the presidency of John F. Kennedy, and the Senate career of Edward M. Kennedy. This will be a model in perpetuity that will remember the short time we had President Kennedy and the many years we've had with Senator Kennedy."