Paul Wellstone was the antithesis of the Clintons,

I have advocated that ever since I came here. I was one of the leading advocates of full campaign finance, public funding, full funding reform. I wrote the bill with David Boren and George Mitchell back in the ’80s. We actually passed it at one point. And George Herbert Walker Bush vetoed it. And I went with Bill Bradley and Joe Biden to visit with Clinton in 1993 in the Oval Office to persuade him to do campaign-finance reform when we had the majority of both houses and the White House. And he declined to do that. And I think we paid an enormous price for not having done that. But you have to have a comprehensive reform. I am not for Band-Aid reforms anymore. I am not for coming in and limiting Congress and what they can do here, and then individual groups can go out and just murder you on their own. Enough of that. -- John Kerry

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The following year, a re-elected Kerry was in another lonely position as one of only five original sponsors of the Clean Money, Clean Elections Act, to provide for full public financing of Congressional elections. The measure would remove practically all special-interest money from House and Senate campaigns. (Kerry's colleagues were Wellstone, Leahy, John Glenn and Joe Biden--all Democrats.) "Kerry was totally into it," says Ellen Miller, former executive director of Public Campaign, a reform group pressing for the legislation. "He believes in this stuff."

In introducing the legislation, Kerry said on the Senate floor, "Special interest money is moving and dictating and governing the agenda of American politics.... If we want to regain the respect and confidence of the American people, and if we want to reconnect to them and reconnect them to our democracy, we have to get the special interest money out of politics." He was also a backer of the better-known McCain-Feingold legislation, a more modest and (some might say) problematic approach to campaign reform. But over the years he's pointed to the Clean Money, Clean Elections Act as the real reform. "It is a tough position in Congress to be for dramatic change in financing elections," says Miller. "It's gutsy to go out and say, 'Let's provide a financially leveled playing field so there is more competition for incumbents.' Kerry and Wellstone were the leaders and took a giant step. It was remarkable."

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‘From voting against the Defense of Marriage Act to actively opposing "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell," John Kerry is a true leader for our community,’ said HRC President Cheryl Jacques.

WASHINGTON – The Human Rights Campaign today endorsed Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., for President of the United States. The decision was made by HRC’s board of directors based on the candidate’s support for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality, demonstrated leadership and his viability to win in November.

"From voting against the Defense of Marriage Act to actively opposing ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ John Kerry is a true leader for our community," said HRC President Cheryl Jacques. "Just six months into his first Senate term in 1985, he introduced a gay civil rights bill. His aggressive support for our community continued unabated for the years that followed, demonstrated time and again by perfect HRC ratings on GLBT issues in Congress."

In 1996, Sen. Kerry was one of only 14 senators, and the only up for re-election, to cast a vote against the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act. He also testified in front of a Senate committee in 1993 against the policy that prohibits military service by openly gay, lesbian and bisexual Americans known as "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell."

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He was planning to run for National office according to Newsweek and People. He told friends he would have run for Senate in New York, but let Hillary Clinton run instead. And he would have won. He was the most popular man in the US. And for good reason. He was a great guy. But he was the only Kennedy to ever acknowledge a conspiracy in his father’s death. He not only acknowledge it, he published an article by Oliver Stone, in his magazine, George, about assassination, conspiracies, and lying history books. Who would want to kill him? The people who killed his father had to kill him. Kennedy Jr. was going to go after them.

Noonan says Kennedy would have run for the New York Senate seat won in 2000 by Hillary Clinton. He says Kennedy said of Clinton: "Wait until she gets here. She's gonna get her head handed to her."

With Kennedy in the race, Noonan believes that Clinton wouldn't have run and that Kennedy "would have gone all the way to the top," the White House.

Kennedy, who toyed with running for office, was taken aback when he read that Hillary Clinton had announced she would run for Daniel Patrick Moynihan's Senate seat.

"What, am I supposed to move to Arkansas?" snorted Kennedy.