text: Ben Affleck became the second big-name Democrat on Christmas Eve to take a pass on the soon-to-be-vacant Massachusetts Senate seat. 
   
   The actor took to his Facebook page Monday to say he's not running to replace Sen. John Kerry, who's expected to easily win confirmation as secretary of State. Earlier Monday, Ted Kennedy Jr. said he's not taking the plunge into elected politics, either. 
   
   "I love Massachusetts and our political process, but I am not running for office," Affleck wrote. "Right now, it's a privilege to spend my time working with Eastern Congo Initiative (ECI), supporting our veterans, drawing attention to the great many who go hungry in the U.S. everyday and using filmmaking to entertain and foster discussion about issues like our relationship to Iran." 
   
   (PHOTOS: Best celeb tweets on politics in 2012) 
   
   Affleck, who drew buzz but was never believed to be serious about running, said he expects "some phenomenal" candidates to emerge for the seat. A trio of Democratic congressmen — Massachusetts Reps. Michael Capuano, Stephen Lynch and Ed Markey — are the most oft-mentioned potential contenders. 
   
   Sen. Scott Brown is by far the strongest likely candidate on the GOP side. He lost to Elizabeth Warren in November but remains popular in the Bay State. 
   
   President Barack Obama has promised to raise money and campaign for the eventual Democratic nominee, POLITICO reported on Saturday. 
   
   Read more about: John Kerry, Scott Brown, Ted Kennedy Jr., Ben Affleck ||||| Ted Kennedy Jr. will not run for John Kerry’s Senate seat in Massachusetts, he announced in a statement Monday. 
   
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   Kennedy, son of the late former Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy, said he’s “extremely grateful for all the offers of support,” but that he considers Connecticut his home. 
   
   Kennedy, a 51-year-old lawyer and president of a financial services company in New York, lives with his family in Connecticut but also has a home at the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port. 
   
   (Earlier on POLITICO: Scott Brown no shoo-in as Kerry successor) 
   
   Still, Kennedy didn’t rule out a run for office in the future. 
   
   “Although I have a strong desire to serve in public office, I consider Connecticut to be my home, and hope to have the honor to serve at another point in my future,” he said in his statement, per CNN. 
   
   “The statement was interesting in that really for the first time he’s said out loud that he would like to serve in public office,” said Democratic strategist Scott Ferson. “But I think he’s being thoughtful about it — he knows where he’s made his life and sees his future there.” 
   
   The news comes a day after former Rep. Patrick Kennedy indicated that his older brother was giving serious consideration to running. 
   
   Insiders in Massachusetts say Kennedy’s decision isn’t a big surprise, and that the expected Democratic field is mostly unchanged. It is, however, a boon to former Sen. Scott Brown, who is likely to run on the Republican side and has high name recognition throughout the state. 
   
   “There were plenty of trial balloons,” Democratic strategist Mary Anne Marsh said. “The fact that Ted Kennedy decided not to run isn’t a big surprise, and the [Democratic] field is the same at the moment.” 
   
   The names that come up most frequently on the Democratic side are Massachusetts Reps. Michael Capuano, Stephen Lynch and Ed Markey. 
   
   On the Republican side, it’s likely that Brown — who won his seat in the state’s 2010 special election to succeed Edward Kennedy — will run again. Brown was defeated in November by Democrat Elizabeth Warren as he sought a full six-year term. 
   
   Actor-filmmaker Ben Affleck has also been mentioned as a possible candidate. 
   
   Ferson said the Democratic field hasn’t changed in the wake of Ted Kennedy’s decision, but that if he’d decided to run, the field certainly could have shrunk, given the amount of attention Kennedy would have received. 
   
   “The reality is if Ted Kennedy had gotten in, Kennedys suck up a lot of political oxygen,” Ferson said. “The Democratic field would not have been as big as it potentially may be now.”
target: – Ben Affleck is done being coy about his political ambitions, and is joining the growing list of people who won't be running for John Kerry's Senate seat, reports Politico. "I love Massachusetts and our political process, but I am not running for office," Affleck wrote on his Facebook page. "Right now it's a privilege to spend my time working with Eastern Congo Initiative, supporting our veterans, drawing attention to the great many who go hungry in the US everyday and using filmmaking to entertain and foster discussion about issues like our relationship to Iran." Affleck joined the ranks of Ted Kennedy Jr., who yesterday made a similar announcement, reports Politico. Kennedy said that while he's “extremely grateful for all the offers of support,” uprooting his family from Connecticut wasn't in the cards—though he did leave open the idea of a run for public office: “Although I have a strong desire to serve in public office, I consider Connecticut to be my home, and hope to have the honor to serve at another point in my future."