Kennedy and Chavez tribes call it a quest

HOUSTON. -- The Chavez-Kennedy tag-team battle for the hearts of nostalgic liberals continues in Texas.

Hillary Clinton's campaign has been prominently airing an ad in the state featuring testimonials to her as a "champion for the voiceless" from Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Cesar L. Chavez. Today, at its Houston headquarters, the Obama campaign responded with an RFK son and Chavez grandchild of its own.

"Our families are entitled to pick who is the best candidate," said Christine Chavez, a former union organizer and gay-rights activist, noting that both clans had split between the two candidates. She appeared at a press conference with local labor leaders on Obama’s behalf.

Inside, Max Kennedy, accompanying his mother Ethel, interrupted a training session for Obama precinct captains to offer a pep talk -- although the family tradition he invoked to inspire the volunteers was not idealism but tribal politics. Recounting how his ancestors went from penniless immigrants to masters of an urban machine, Kennedy said, "In 1890, the Irish took over the city of Boston and we maintained that control due to hard fieldwork."

Ethel offered little more than a faint "Si se puede" on Obama’s behalf, but Chavez said it was hearing Obama invoke that phrase -- "Yes we can" – that lured her to support his candidacy.

"Those were our first words as a baby," she said. "To hear him say that was very moving."