Kennedy steers clear of race for father’s seat

“He wouldn’t have wanted to go backwards on reproductive rights, but he thought that perfect is the enemy of good,’’ Ted Kennedy Jr. said, referring to a debate among candidates over whether to support a health care overhaul if it includes restrictions on insurance payments for abortion. “And if you have a good bill you should pass that and not wait for the most perfect piece of legislation.’’

Kennedy, a Connecticut lawyer and investment executive, said he is not trying to insert himself into a “local brouhaha’’ and does not plan to endorse in the four-way Democratic primary for his father’s seat.

But, in a wide-ranging interview, he indirectly addressed the campaign clash over the health care bill that squeaked through the House with an amendment prohibiting federally subsidized insurance plans from paying for most abortions.

Attorney General Martha Coakley said she opposed that bill because of its anti-abortion provision, prompting US Representative Michael E. Capuano, who voted for it, to attack her. But Capuano later clarified that he, too, would vote against the final version of the bill if it returned from the Senate with the abortion provision intact. Meanwhile, Celtics co-owner Stephen Pagliuca and City Year cofounder Alan Khazei said they would try to protect abortion coverage but not let it scuttle the health care legislation, with Pagliuca running statewide ads about it.

Kennedy, 48, attracted national attention in August when he delivered a poignant eulogy at his father’s funeral. He was in Worcester yesterday to address more than 1,000 nurses, social workers, administrators, and other providers of long-term care to the elderly and disabled at a gathering of the Massachusetts Senior Care Association.

Kennedy spoke of his affection and respect for nurses and care providers, formed during the nearly two years he spent in and out of hospitals while being treated for the rare form of cancer that took his right leg when he was just 12 years old.

Following his address, Kennedy discussed an array of topics in an interview. He said he is still coming to terms with his grief over his father’s death and could not imagine immersing himself in the Senate race to assume the seat held by his father for nearly 47 years.

“It’s hard for me to get excited, honestly, about it, because it’s a tough emotional time,’’ said Kennedy, who lives outside New Haven. He said he might feel differently about the race if he lived in Massachusetts, or if a close friend of his father were running, one of “the Bill Delahunts or the Ed Markeys of the world,’’ for example.

He said he thought that the four Democrats in the race share similar philosophies and that voters would make a decision largely on biography and style.

Kennedy chose his words carefully while talking about a dispute between his brother, US Representative Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island, and Bishop Thomas J. Tobin of Providence, over the role of abortion in the health care debate. Representative Kennedy supports abortion rights; the Catholic Church does not.

“I don’t want to get myself excommunicated,’’ Ted Kennedy Jr. said. Noting that his own daughter was just confirmed in the Catholic Church, he said, “My family’s Catholic faith is an important part of our lives, so it hurts my feelings when the church hierarchy gets involved in these very political issues.’’

Throughout the morning, Kennedy was approached by people who wanted to shake his hand, offer gratitude and condolences, and ask him to sign copies of his father’s posthumous memoir, “True Compass.’’

“Your father was a great man,’’ one woman said. “You have no idea how special this is to me.’’

“I have to tell you, you and your family are an inspiration,’’ another told him, tears in her eyes as Kennedy prepared to ink his name on his father’s book. “God bless you.’’