Easy choice for Kennedy in Lynn race

LYNN – Mayoral candidate Judith Flanagan Kennedy will not seek re-election to her seat as a councilor-at-large and instead devote her full attention to a run for the city’s top office.Kennedy, 47, is a Lynn councilor-at-large whose name appeared as an incumbent candidate on the city’s preliminary election ballot earlier this month. As the top vote-getter in the city’s mayoral race, despite her entry as a write-in candidate, her name will subsequently appear on the Nov. 3 election ballot in a face-off with incumbent Mayor Edward J. Clancy Jr.In an effort to clarify the situation, Kennedy sent a Sept. 25 letter to City Clerk and Election Commissioner Mary Audley, explaining her intention to withdraw from the councilor-at-large race.”It’s the right thing to do,” Kennedy said Monday, adding that she wants to concentrate exclusively on her mayoral campaign. “I’m not a person who hedges my bets. I’m in the mayoral race to win and I think it’s only fair that the remaining at-large candidates receive the voters’ full consideration.”Upon declaring her mayoral candidacy, Kennedy was criticized for not immediately bowing out of the council-at-large race, although doing so would be more a matter of political grace than mandatory procedure.During the 2008 national election, U.S. Sen. Joseph Biden, a Delaware Democrat, continued to run for re-election to his Senate seat while simultaneously serving as vice presidential candidate alongside then U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, the presidential candidate. After Obama and Biden won the presidency and vice presidency in November, Biden resigned his Delaware seat on Jan. 15, 2009.