Kennedy Smith Will Not Seek Office

By Stephen M. Silverman

08/01/2001 at 04:14 PM EDT

William Kennedy Smith, 40, the nephew of Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and the defendant who was found innocent of a rape charge in a widely televised trial 10 years ago, said Wednesday that he will not seek a Congressional seat in 2002. "I decided over the weekend I didn't want to proceed at this time with the race," Smith, who had been considering a run for the seat being vacated by Illinois Rep. Rod Blagojevich, said on ABC's "Good Morning America." Smith had earlier told the Chicago Sun-Times that he might someday seek public office. "I hope sometime in my life to have that honor and that experience," said Smith, a physician and activist in opposing the use of land mines. Smith said that his decision not to run was prompted in part by a Sun-Times story on how voters would react to him and the lingering memory of his trial. Political pundits quoted on NBC and elsewhere said that Kennedy would have a difficult time overcoming the image he gained in 1991. During the trail, Smith testified that he had consensual sex with his accuser.