Ted Kennedy

I do hope that Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) does not run for the presidency in 1988. I'm afraid he is becoming the Harold Stassen of the Democratic Party. VIRGINIA DARE LUDWIG Tustin

For residents of this picturesque New England town, Scott Brown's exercise routine was a familiar sight -- steady and symbolic of the man himself. He could be seen running down the main drag -- past the hardware store that sells brown eggs, past the bakery with the pumpkin whoopie pies -- almost every day. No headphones. Occasionally with his daughter. Always with purpose. "Running, not jogging," said Nabil Shehata, the owner of a pizza and subs place in the center of this Boston bedroom community.

On the Monday before Christmas, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) was not resting comfortably at home, savoring holiday cheer with the extended family that he heads. Rather, and characteristically, he was meeting with flood victims in West Virginia to make sure that the government was doing what it could to ease their distress. The meeting in the little town of Albright was part of a tour that Kennedy is making to focus attention on hunger, poverty and suffering in America.

In a stunning blow to Democrats, Republican Scott Brown on Tuesday seized the Massachusetts Senate seat once held by Edward M. Kennedy, handing the GOP the crucial vote that could thwart President Obama's far-reaching agenda, beginning with healthcare reform. More broadly, Brown's epic upset signals the start of what could be an exceedingly tough year nationwide for Democrats, who are fighting to hang on to their majorities in the House and Senate in a political climate that seems to grow more hostile by the day. "The effort to pass Obama's legislative agenda has grown more difficult, a flood of new Democratic congressional retirements may follow, and Republicans will certainly feel emboldened to expand their list of Democratic targets for the fall election," said Rhodes Cook, an independent campaign analyst.

Re "A changed landscape," Aug. 27, and "Seesaw Senate seats," Editorial, Aug. 25 I hope Republicans, who are unwilling to support healthcare reform that will enable all Americans to have health insurance coverage, will take a page from Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's book. It's not just about what you have, it's about making sure that all Americans have a decent life -- and that includes being able to go to a doctor or a hospital to save your life. Nancy Oliveira San Francisco :: Years ago, influential Democratic fundraiser and UCLA Regent Sheldon Andelson, now deceased, was talking about "coming out of the closet" at a gala hotel celebration.

Some leading conservatives, who for years painted Edward M. Kennedy as the face of ominous liberalism and made him perhaps their most public foil, marked the Massachusetts senator's death this morning with an outpouring of respect and in some cases, even endearment. Far different appraisals sprung from conservative talk radio and the blogosphere, where readers filled comment sections with excoriations of Kennedy's politics and his personal life, chiefly his role behind the wheel in the car accident that killed Mary Jo Kopechne 40 years ago. Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele issued a statement saying Kennedy served his country "with great distinction" and that he "should serve as an inspiration to anyone interested in public service."

For Democrats, it's a nightmarish scenario: A Republican appears to be within striking distance of capturing the Senate seat of the late Edward M. Kennedy. Massachusetts hasn't elected a Republican to the Senate since 1972. But some polls show that Scott Brown, a state senator, is gaining on his Democratic rival, state Atty. Gen. Martha Coakley, in Tuesday's special election to replace the "liberal lion" of the Senate. The contest has become close enough to make Democratic officials in Washington nervous.

Breaking down the architectural and emotional barriers that isolate disabled people is the civil rights issue of the '80s, says Ted Kennedy Jr. He also believes public service--not politics--is the heritage of America's most famous family name.

Re "Edward Kennedy dies at 77," Aug. 26 Through it all, Ted Kennedy was one of the few leaders who was consistent in his message: healthcare for everyone in the United States. In a time when politicians change their beliefs depending on the latest Internet poll, Kennedy stayed the course. Thank you, Ted, for staying out there all nine innings. Now the torch has been passed to our current president, who is committed to healthcare for everyone. David Todd Prouty Morro Bay :: Kennedy's death saddens us all. There will be numerous words lauding his career.

As a friend of his tells it, Sen. Edward Kennedy learned to paint the way the members of his family learned to do almost everything else--competitively. Kennedy began painting in the early 1950s, when his brother Jack took it up as he was recuperating from back surgery. Day after day at the Palm Beach house, the two brothers would hold a painting contest--choose a subject, paint it and then have the family judge which painting was the better.

As of this writing, Bay State voters appear poised to do the unthinkable: elect a Republican to fill the Senate seat held by Ted Kennedy for nearly half a century. Even more amazing is that the Republican in question, Scott Brown, turned his campaign into a referendum on healthcare reform, the keystone of the Obama agenda and the North Star of Kennedy's career. Even if Brown loses today, that it was even close should shake Democrats to their core. They outnumber Republicans 3 to 1 in a state Barack Obama won by 26 points.

President Obama on Friday threw himself into the Massachusetts Senate race where a surging Republican candidacy imperils his signature healthcare plan. A Republican win Tuesday in the race to replace the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) would strip Democrats of their 60-vote supermajority in the Senate and allow the GOP to block legislation with filibusters. Healthcare legislation has passed both chambers on party-line votes, but a reconciled final version must still be written and approved by both houses.

For Democrats, it's a nightmarish scenario: A Republican appears to be within striking distance of capturing the Senate seat of the late Edward M. Kennedy. Massachusetts hasn't elected a Republican to the Senate since 1972. But some polls show that Scott Brown, a state senator, is gaining on his Democratic rival, state Atty. Gen. Martha Coakley, in Tuesday's special election to replace the "liberal lion" of the Senate. The contest has become close enough to make Democratic officials in Washington nervous.

Measured Moyers I am a 66-year-old lifelong Republican who always enjoyed listening to Bill Moyers. ("A Thoughtful Voice Amid the Din," by Neal Gabler, Dec. 13.) With his unique personal style and calming voice he had the ability to discuss both sides of a political issue in a calm measured way that enabled you to understand his point of view and what the real issues were. The shrill, vitriolic ranting of talking heads like Bill O'Reilly or Donna Brazile regardless of party affiliation only serve to polarize every critical issue we face as a nation and leave a scorched earth landscape behind them where no rational discussion can take place in the middle.

There is no one better to pay tribute to the "Lion of the Senate" than Pat Oliphant, leader of editorial cartooning's pride, whose journalism career overlapped most of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's tenure in Washington. Oliphant, then drawing for the Washington Star, delightedly employed his cruelest and most vicious Chappaquiddick imagery in assessing Kennedy's presidential fitness, no doubt contributing to the senator's decision to remain in Congress. He went for it again, with Jimmy Carter in scuba gear, in a legendary classic.

If it weren't for the familiar rows of Chiclets-sized teeth, the trio in the 1962 photo that appeared on scores of front pages last week, with their slim-cut suits and skinny ties, could have been mistaken for the ad men of "Mad Men's" Sterling Cooper agency. The senator from Massachusetts, whose life would forever be framed by the brothers who predeceased him, looks directly at the camera, as sharp and focused as Don Draper on the Kodak account. His suit, several shades darker than his brothers', is set off by a crisp, white triangle of a pocket square.

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy is strolling to the beach, his arm around his wife of three months, when he spots a carrot in the grass. Taking his arm from his bride, the senior senator from Massachusetts stoops to pick it up, explaining to a reporter that it was left there by his 6-year-old stepdaughter, who was hoping to lure rabbits. He breaks off the carrot's tip and puts it back in the grass so that the little girl will think it has been sampled by bunnies. Public relations? Or the new Ted Kennedy?

It was painful enough, learning that his cousin, Michael Kennedy, had been killed last year in a skiing accident. But almost as painful for Ted Kennedy Jr. was the way some people talked about Michael's death. They told him it had been for the best, he says, because Michael, 39, had broken his neck. "The implication, of course, was that he would have been paralyzed for life--that he was better off dying than living his life in a wheelchair," says Kennedy, 36. Kennedy knows better.

In assessing the legacy of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, most eulogies have begun by celebrating his legislative achievements, which have touched virtually every American. He is routinely -- and rightly -- placed among the greatest senators who ever lived. Others have pointed to his less tangible contributions to the nation -- that as his brothers' heir, he kept the Kennedys' progressive flame lit and continued to carry the torch for the least powerful among us. Both of these, however, were more than a matter of his fulfilling a role as America's foremost liberal.

For many of those mourning Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) during his funeral and burial today, what gives special meaning to his life is not only his record of legislative accomplishments but his perseverance through a lifetime of scandal and hardship. For others, however, no record of achievement will compensate for Kennedy's mistakes and personal failings. The 1969 Chappaquiddick episode -- in which he fled the scene after his car went off a bridge, carrying Mary Jo Kopechne to her death -- was arguably the most unforgivable of the blemishes on his career.