Edward Kennedy may have thrown his political weight behind Democrat Barack Obama in the White House race, but he says that doesn't mean he harbors ill feelings toward his old friends, Hillary and Bill Clinton.
"Absolutely not. I'm not against the Clintons. I'm for Barack Obama," the Massachusetts senator and brother of the late President John F. Kennedy said on Tuesday.
"I've said I'm for Barack Obama. But I'm going to support Sen. Clinton or Sen. Edwards should they gain the nomination. It's imperative that the Democrats be successful," he said in an interview with NBC's "Today Show."
Kennedy, patriarch of one of the leading political dynasties in the United States, endorsed Obama at a raucous rally in Washington on Monday.
He was joined by his niece Caroline Kennedy, daughter of the late president, and his own son U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy in backing Obama, a first-term Illinois senator who would be the country's first black president.
The endorsement was widely seen as a blow to Hillary Clinton, a New York senator who is Obama's chief rival for the Democratic Party nomination ahead of November's presidential election. Clinton would be the first female U.S. president.
Some analysts saw Kennedy's endorsement -- which cast Obama as an heir to the idealism of John Kennedy -- partly as a response to critical comments about Obama by Clinton's husband, former President Bill Clinton.
Not true, Kennedy said.
"This race really isn't about President Clinton. It's a race of enormous consequence for our country. The stakes are extremely high when we look at the challenges that we're facing here at home and abroad," Kennedy told NBC.
Kennedy and Hillary Clinton exchanged a brief handshake when they both attended President George W. Bush's State of the Union speech on Monday evening.
Kennedy says he and the Clintons are still friends
Key Republican presidential contest opens in Florida
Florida voted in its key Republican presidential nominating contest Tuesday, with top contenders John McCain and Mitt Romney tightly matched and ex-New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani's campaign hanging in the balance.
Polls opened at 7:00 am (1200 GMT) in the primary election, in which Florida will provide 57 delegates -- the highest number to date -- to the September convention that will pick the party's presidential candidate.
It will also give the winner strong momentum ahead of next week's "Super Tuesday" when voting will be held in 22 states.
With Giuliani and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee sidelined in opinion polls, McCain and Romney hit out at each other ahead of the primary on the economy and the Iraq war, two major issues for voters.
Senator Hillary Clinton was the clear favorite here ahead of a Democratic primary that could give her a symbolic boost -- but little else, since the national party stripped Florida of delegates after the state broke the rules by changing the date of its vote.
But she suffered a stinging blow on Monday as her rival Barack Obama won the endorsement of influential Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy, the last surviving brother of assassinated president John F. Kennedy.
Under an agreement with their party, the Democratic candidates stayed away from Florida, but the Republican contenders were out in force.
A Zogby poll on Monday put McCain's support at 33 percent and Romney's at 30 percent. Giuliani, who largely ignored voting in other states to stake his campaign on Florida, had 13 percent, two points ahead of Huckabee.
Romney, a venture capitalist with a reputation for turning around ailing companies, touted his economic credentials and pointed to what he called McCain's "lack of understanding of our economy."
"I frankly can't imagine how you can have a president of the United States who doesn't understand the economy," Romney told reporters.
McCain's camp shot back, accusing the former governor of flip-flopping on just about every major issue.
He also reiterated the claim his rival had sought a timetable for a withdrawal from Iraq, something Romney denies.
"If we had done what Governor Romney suggested, Al-Qaeda would be celebrating a great victory today," McCain, who was a prisoner of war in Vietnam, told the Fox News network.
He said he was confident of support from conservative Republicans due to his tough stance on fighting extremists, despite Romney branding him as too liberal on social issues such as immigration.
"I'm confident that we are going to do well tomorrow," he said told CNN news Monday. "Although I think it will be close."
McCain got a big lift over the past days with endorsements from Florida's highly popular Governor Charlie Crist and Senator Mel Martinez, who has strong clout among the large Cuban-American community.
Around a million Florida voters had already cast early and absentee ballots.
On the Democratic side, a Florida victory would give Clinton a badly needed boost after Obama, a senator from Illinois, trounced her in South Carolina on Saturday.
The former first lady insisted on Sunday the Democratic vote will not be ignored -- even though the national party said it won't count in Florida.
The New York senator has said she wanted the delegations from Florida and Michigan -- which was punished in a similar way -- to be seated at the convention that will nominate the Democratic candidate.
The southeastern state was the decider in the 2000 election, in which George W. Bush was handed victory after five weeks of chaos, recounts and legal battles.
The move clashed with national party rules in both camps. The Republicans also punished Florida, stripping the state of half its 114 delegates to the national convention.
