Candidates • William A. Ferguson (LaRouche Was Right) • Mary Fridley (Libertarian) •
Ted Kennedy, incumbent U.S. Senator since 1962 (Democratic) •
Mitt Romney, CEO of
Bain Capital and son of former
Michigan governor George W. Romney Romney ran as a successful entrepreneur and Washington outsider, with a strong family image and moderate stands on social issues. George Romney had urged Mitt to enter the race, and moved into his son's house for its duration, serving as an unofficial advisor. Kennedy was more vulnerable than usual in 1994 – in part because of the unpopularity of the Democratic Congress as a whole, and also because this was Kennedy's first election since the
William Kennedy Smith trial in Florida, in which Kennedy had taken some public relations hits regarding his character. One
Boston Herald/
WCVB-TV poll taken after the September 20, 1994, primary showed Romney ahead, 44 percent to 42 percent, within the poll's sampling
margin of error. In another September poll, Romney had a 43 to 42 percent lead. President
Bill Clinton traveled to Massachusetts to campaign for Kennedy. Religion became an issue for a while, after Kennedy's campaign said it was fair to ask Romney about his
LDS Church's past policy of not allowing blacks into the priesthood. Romney claimed that 10,000 jobs were created because of his work at Bain, but private detectives hired by Kennedy found a factory bought by Bain Capital that had suffered a 350-worker strike, after Bain had cut worker pay and benefits. Kennedy's charges were effective, as more voters decided that Romney was interested in profits more than people. although both Kennedy and Romney supported the
abortion rights established under
Roe v. Wade, Kennedy accused Romney of being "multiple choice" on the issue, rather than "pro choice". Romney said his stance dated back to his mother,
Lenore Romney, and her position during her 1970 U.S. Senate campaign: "My mother and my family have been committed to the belief that we can believe as we want, but we will not force our beliefs on others on that matter. And you will not see me wavering on that.") Kennedy's campaign ran short on money, and belying his image as endlessly wealthy, he was forced to take out a
second mortgage on his Virginia home. Romney spent over $7 million of his own money, with Kennedy spending more than $10 million from his campaign fund, mostly in the last weeks of the campaign (this was the second-most expensive race of the 1994 election cycle, after the
Dianne Feinstein–
Michael Huffington Senate race in
California). Kennedy's new wife,
Vicki Reggie Kennedy, proved to be a strong asset in campaigning. One post-debate October general election poll showed Kennedy leading 50 percent to 32, the closest re-election race of his career and the only such contest where Kennedy failed to capture at least 60% of the vote; only his initial victory in the
1962 special election was closer. == See also ==