When I was a kid, the only Democrats I knew were my mother’s family back in Rhode Island. Among the best and most beloved of the bunch were my mom’s cousin and her husband, who one night took my brother and I out putting up yard signs for a Democrat politician in Providence (I was 10, my brother was 8, and the laws against contributing to the delinquency of a minor were so much less stringent back then. . . ). They were good people, honest Democrats who believed in the New Deal/Fair Deal/Camelot/Great Society Democrat ideals that held sway during the middle third of the 20th Century and which still had great influence into the 1970s.

A couple of weeks ago, I got this email (which I have edited to remove family stories and details) from my mom’s cousin, and was floored by its contents.

Subject: Dancing in the streets!

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We are dancing in the streets in Massachusetts AND RI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. We are so thrilled about Scott Brown gunning down Martha in the streets of Boston. Good for him. We are thrilled. God is good. How far away can the dumping of the "Kennedy kid" be? Patrick, take the hint. . . . So many, many of Rhode Islanders feel this way. . . . Just wait till the next election. We want to see the Kennedy dynasty die. Massachusetts got rid of Teddy’s ass tonight; we in RI will get rid of Patrick’s fat, drug-riddled, alcohol-infested ass SOON! Love it!

I was floored. I wasn’t at all sure how deep that sort of sentiment runs in a state like Rhode Island. But now I see that the polling data indicates that it does.

The Kennedy political dynasty is shaking in the aftershock of U.S. Sen. Scott Brown’s earth-shattering election, with a new poll showing U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy losing ground as he faces a well-financed GOP foe backed by Brown’s top strategists.

The WPRI-12 poll showed the Rhode Island Democrat with a 56 percent unfavorability rating in his district - a negative that grows to 62 percent statewide.

Only 35 percent of voters in Kennedy’s district said they would vote to re-elect him. Another 31 percent said they’d consider a different candidate and 28 percent said they would vote to replace him, according to the poll.

Will we soon see a Kennedy-free Congress for the first time in my lifetime? Could be if Rhode Islanders are as serious about real change as my formerly Democrat family members! And that may drive home the point to the degenerate son of a degenerate father that the voice of the people as expressed by their votes is no joke.