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When Ted Kennedy was elected in 1962, there was little in his past to suggest that he could live up to the standards of a Massachusetts Senate post, known as the "charmed seat," that had been held by the likes of John Quincy Adams and Daniel Webster.

After all, he'd been kicked out of Harvard for cheating on a Spanish exam and he often had been a no-show at his only real job, as an assistant district attorney, because of his campaigning.

Now, his name fits seamlessly into the lineage of a seat that many hope will stay in Kennedy hands. From the time that JFK won the seat in 1952, the family has always viewed it as an heirloom to be passed from brother to brother and from generation to generation.

"Just as I went into politics because Joe [Jr.] died, if anything happened to me tomorrow, Bobby would run for my seat," JFK said in 1959. "And if Bobby died our younger brother Ted would take over for him."

For the first time in more than 46 years, the question is more than hypothetical: Will another Kennedy, perhaps former Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy II, take the "Charmed Seat?"