Jack E. Robinson pushed forward with his unconventional U.S. Senate campaign last night, telling a crowd of 22 at MIT that "anything is possible if you put your mind to it"--including a victory in his seemingly impossible face-off against six-term Democratic incumbent Edward M. Kennedy '54-'56.

Robinson said his long-sought debate with Kennedy--who thus far has not publicly responded to Robinson's request for two debates--will soon become a reality.

"There are movements afoot to make this thing happen, and hopefully in the next week or so we'll be able to announce it," said Robinson, who is running as a Republican.

After getting stuck in Boston traffic, Robinson arrived 15 minutes late and promptly delivered a 15-minute stump speech detailing his stance on nearly every major issue.

Robinson, whose primary issue is education, said public schools are a "disaster" and proposed increases in charter schools and vouchers to help improve their performance.

"How do you fix the problem? You bring competition to the system," Robinson said.

"Vouchers are the great economic equalizer to help people at the bottom of the economic ladder have the education that they want," he added.

On campaign finance reform, Robinson said he wants to ban soft money, increase personal contribution limits and mandate full disclosure of contributions on the Internet, and threw a jab at his opponent in the process.