Buzz: MC Not Intimidated by Either Kennedy

Coakley seems not only unafraid to step into Ted Kennedy’s footprints, but equally unafraid of being stepped on by Ted’s nephew, Joe, who is mulling a run.  From the Boston Globe:

Coakley now faces a series of challenges that include… persuading voters that she has the ability to succeed a legendary politician who served Massachesetts for nearly half a century.  “Who will best follow that tradition? Maybe the name is Kennedy, but maybe it is not.”

She told the Boston Herald that whether or not Joe runs “isn’t a factor” in her own decision-making, and when asked whether she believes she can beat a Kennedy, she said

I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t think I could be competitive.

Was she even going so far as to poke the tiger when she chose as her announcement location the Parker House, where, as the Globe points out, John F. Kennedy made his first public speech (praising his grandfather) at the age of six?