Yesterday, Joe Kennedy III, son of former Congressman Joe Kennedy (better known these days for doing commercials for Hugo Chavez) and grandson of the late Robert F. Kennedy, launched his bid for Congress yesterday. The 31-year old former Assistant Middlesex County DA wants to replace Barney Frank in Massachusetts 4th Congressional District. Frank announced he would not seek re-election in the redrawn district last November. Until this month, Kennedy was living with his mother in Cambridge but has now since moved to Brookline, the town where President Kennedy was born. Congress has been Kennedy free since Patrick Kennedy, son of the late Ted Kennedy, opted not to run for re-election in his Rhode Island seat in 2010.

Standing in the way of JK3 (as he has been affectionately dubbed by The Boston Herald) is Republican Sean Bielat who gave Frank fits in 2010. Although Frank defeated Bielat by ten points, Bielat got under Frank’s skin that his boyfriend and soon-to-be husband heckled him following a candidates debate. Alas, there was no joy in Newtonville.

According to a poll conducted by the University of Massachusetts Lowell, Kennedy leads Bielat by 32% (60% to 28%). But anything could happen in 8½ months. Could Bielat be the Scott Brown of 2010? Of course, come to think of it, will the Scott Brown of 2012 be the Scott Brown of 2010? But the people of Massachusetts’s Fourth District will have to decide if it’s Barney Franks’s seat or if it’s The People’s Seat.