Hereditary Succession

DeLong has an interesting thread on hereditary succession in politics, but I think the issue is more pervasive than has been noticed so far. Aside from Clintons and Bushes (and Adamses and Harrisons and Roosevelts), a moment's reflection should remind us of Kennedys and Sununus, Romneys, Murkowskis, etc. etc.. Less well known, perhaps (except I assume on home turf), combing through the Barone Almanac of American Politics, I find, e.g., that Kansas governor Kathleen Sebelius is the daughter of former Ohio governor John Gilligan (and that her father-in-law is a former Congressman).

I don't mean to kick around a governor here. My point is that there must be something going on here besides crude dynasticism. I assume that the Gilligan name does not have any of the national celebrity of even, e.g., a Romney. Surely the Gilligan political network cannot have offered a lot of clout in Kansas (maybe it hurt?)? Is just that she learned this stuff at the kitchen table? What about money? My friend Ann asks: did daddy have a war chest to transfer? Or a phone list? Or--?

And it's certainly not just her. I suspect a careful read of Barone would turn up a hundred such examples. Is this hereditarty succession? A "political class?" Or something vaguer on the lines of "politics is in my blood?"