The charges are surfacing at a critical time for the Kennedys. It’s a particularly important season for Joe, the six-term congressman and oldest son of RFK. The next generation’s rising star, Joe wants to sit in the governor’s office on Beacon Hill, above the bronze statue of his uncle Jack. In an ordinary year he should have little to worry about: no Kennedy has ever lost an election in Massachusetts, and the nomination of centrist GOP Gov. William Weld as ambassador to Mexico–a move apparently made with the help of some Kennedy clout–removed his chief rival. But the allegations about his brother came just weeks after Joe’s own ex-wife charged him with bullying her into annulling their 12-year marriage, portraying him in a new book as volatile and caustic. Taken together with William Kennedy Smith’s Palm Beach, Fla., rape trial, the news about annulments and babysitters had voters wondering whether the family that survived Chappaquiddick has at last gone a scandal too far.

As is their custom, none of the Kennedys were talking about the newest charges, except to say that they loved their brother. Michael himself was hiding out. Family friends said he wasn’t denying his affair with the woman, now a college freshman, but they insisted that the relationship hadn’t begun until she was at least a legal 16. Her wealthy parents were close friends of Michael’s; the two families lived on Cohasset’s scenic Little Harbor. Reports said Michael sought help for an alcohol problem after Victoria caught the two together just two months after Michael successfully engineered his uncle’s re-election to the Senate in 1994. But the liaison reportedly continued, and Michael didn’t do much to hide it around town. (One report had him attending her high-school graduation in shorts and a T shirt.) The girl’s family wouldn’t comment, but a friend told The Boston Globe that “she viewed this as her first boyfriend, her first romance.” After her parents found out about the relationship last year, the girl finally broke it off–even though Michael allegedly continued to call her. Then Victoria walked out, too. Michael, who runs the nonprofit energy company founded by Joe, has long been considered a potential congressional candidate himself. Now that he’s under investigation, friends say he is looking to settle the matter with the girl’s parents before she has the chance to tell her story in court.

If so, it would be part of a Kennedy strategy to make sure nothing gets in Joe’s way. The most dramatic example concerns Weld, a Kennedy nemesis with huge popular support. By the end of 1996, Weld had grown tired of Boston and had all but ruled out running for a third term. But having failed to land a job as President Clinton’s next attorney general, Weld began talking openly of changing his mind, even baiting the Kennedys by musing on how much fun he could have with Joe. Insiders say the clan pushed Clinton to appoint Weld to something because they feared the famously quirky governor might run just for spite. “They had to take him out, and that’s what they did,” says George Bachrach, a local Democratic pol. Asked about the backstage maneuvering, Ted Kennedy was coy, saying only that his conversations with the president were private. Weld’s reaction: “I welcome the support of any U.S. senator.”

Will all the maneuvering be enough to ensure a Kennedy victory? Polls showed Joe was slipping. “Joe Kennedy probably would love to have the month of April annulled,” says Dan Payne, a Democratic consultant. Joe’s campaign fund, however, is one of the most formidable in Congress, and everyone here knows that running against the Kennedys is like trying to empty Boston Harbor with a pail. Most people either love them or hate them; there isn’t much of a swing vote for opponents to court. And for a lot of people, the ongoing Kennedy travails are all part of a familiar story of weakness and redemption. As Bachrach, who once ran against Joe, advised one challenger: “Your friends will tell you, “He’s too dumb and he’s too young.’ And then he’s going to clean your clock.” Unless, that is, time for the Kennedys is finally running out.