George departed from the format of traditional political publications, whose audience was made up primarily of people in or around the political world. The general template for George was similar to magazines such as Esquire or Vanity Fair. The consistent underlying theme was to marry the themes of celebrity and media with the subject of politics in such a way that the general public would find political news and discourse about politics more interesting to read.
When it first appeared, George attracted great interest, and for a brief period had the largest circulation of any political magazine in the nation, partly due to the celebrity status of Kennedy, but it soon began losing money. Kennedy later complained that the magazine was not taken seriously in the publishing world.
After Kennedy was killed in an air crash with his wife and sister-in-law on July 16, 1999, the magazine was bought out by Hachette Filipacchi Magazines and continued for over a year. With falling advertising sales, the magazine ceased publication in early 2001.
Paul G. Kirk Jr., a longtime Democratic Party insider and associate of the late Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy , was appointed Thursday by Gov. Deval Patrick as Kennedy’s interim replacement.
