Max Kennedy, son of RFK, says Kennedys divided, but still family

A political prince and a Hollywood star met with Oregon State University students for a pre-canvassing dinner in Corvallis on Wednesday evening.

Max Kennedy, 43, a son of the late Robert F. Kennedy, and his friend, actor Treat Williams, dropped in at the campus-area American Dream Pizza restaurant, chatting amiably with OSU students backing the presidential campaign of Illinois Sen. Barack Obama.

Kennedy, the ninth child born to Robert and Ethel Kennedy, has thrown his support behind Obama, who is vying in a tight race with Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York. Both want the Democratic nomination for the presidency.

Clinton's campaign staffers said she'll return to Oregon on Friday and Saturday. Her husband, former President Bill Clinton, addressed about 1,000 people at Corvallis' Lincoln School on Monday evening. Obama is tentatively scheduled to return to the state on Saturday and Sunday. The candidates are both rallying voters up to the last minute in advance of Oregon's mail-in primary. All ballots are due by Tuesday.

Kennedy, who most recently campaigned for Obama in Texas, already is familiar with the Corvallis area. He interviewed local World War II veterans for a book he's writing on the era. A former attorney, he has taught English and biology at Boston College and is the author of a book about his father, the younger brother and attorney general to President John F. Kennedy. Robert Kennedy Sr. was assassinated almost 40 years ago, on June 5, 1968, in Los Angeles, while celebrating his win in the California presidential primary. He died the following day.

Several of Max Kennedy's siblings, including his eldest brother, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., have come out in support of Hillary Clinton, but Max Kennedy said Wednesday that this division doesn't make things awkward around the family table.

"When you're in a big family, there are so many things you disagree on," he said with a grin. "I know their heart is in the right place."

Kennedy said it's a little easier to sit down at the table knowing that his mother, Ethel, is a staunch Obama supporter. She even wore an Obama pin to her recent 80th birthday party.

"She's working her butt off for Obama," he said.

Kennedy recently ran into Treat Williams in Hollywood, and asked him if he was willing to join up on the campaign trail for Obama.

Williams, who is promoting the new Ashton Kutcher film, "What Happens in Vegas" (he plays Kutcher's father), is flying his friend to Obama campaign stops.

"I'm piloting him," Williams said, between bites of his salad at American Dream pizza.

Obama himself made an unscheduled stop March 21 at the American Dream restaurant on Second Street, saying he was drawn by the "metaphorical thing" going on with the name of the restaurant and his own dream to be president.

For Williams, the decision to back Obama came recently.

"I made my choice about three months ago. I've always loved him. I wanted to make sure he was going to be our guy," Williams said. "With all due respect to Mr. Obama, I also want the Republicans out of office, and more importantly, I want to see this country turn the corner that he wants to turn. At some point it didn't matter any more if he was going to get the nomination."

Williams said Barack and Michelle Obama are the kind of "first couple" he wants to see in the White House.

"They believe what I believe in, they have the intelligence," he said. "This thing about having experience is a crock. I think that he's going to do extraordinary things. I guess it all came together and I said, 'I'm in.'"

This is the first time that Williams has stumped for a political candidate. He plans to be Kennedy's pilot on a stop in South Dakota on Thursday before returning to Los Angeles to begin filming a football picture titled "Miles From Nowhere."

After their relaxed dinner, Kennedy and Williams went back to work, going out with OSU students to canvass some of the campus dormitories.