Kennedy: liberal legend, able legislator

The older visitors might know the main outlines of his career: He survived tragedies including two brothers' assassinations and a young woman's drowning; ran for president in an ill-timed year; won Senate elections decade after decade; and now is nearing the end of a dynasty as he mentors young politicians such as Barack Obama.

Even the most astute tourists, however, may not realize the extent to which the Massachusetts Democrat long ago passed up the chance to coast along as a celebrity. When the cameras were elsewhere, he bore into the details and drudgery of legislating, leaving his imprint on hundreds of laws dealing with health care, civil rights, welfare, housing, education, foreign affairs and other issues.

Saturday's news that Kennedy was hospitalized after an apparent seizure served as a sharp reminder that he is 76 and has been in the Senate 45 years -longer than most Americans have been alive.

Celebrity magazines hail him as the last son from a glamorous but sorrow-tinged political family. Congressional insiders know that he also embraces his job wholeheartedly, working harder and longer hours than some younger colleagues, and hiring bright aides who often stay for years and are seen as role models by others.

Perhaps because it was impossible, Kennedy never tried to shake his image as a liberal titan to admirers and a left-wing caricature to detractors. But the supposed idealist became a pragmatic dealmaker, sometimes angering liberals by his willingness to bargain with Republicans to enact legislation he saw as less than perfect but attainable.

"I think that in his heart, he's where I'm at, but he wants to see a deal move forward and he's willing to take certain steps that I might not be willing to take," Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., told The Associated Press last year after abandoning a major immigration bill that he felt was too harsh on illegal immigrants seeking legal status.

The bill eventually collapsed. But Kennedy has cajoled and prodded and pestered his way to other compromises that succeeded on a range of topics that few lawmakers in history can match.

Arizona Sen. John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate, said Saturday that Kennedy's role in the Senate "cannot be overstated. He is a legendary lawmaker, and I have the highest respect for him. When we have worked together, he has been a skillful, fair and generous partner. I consider it a great privilege to call him my friend."

Jim Manley, a former Kennedy aide, said that "despite coming from a family of great wealth and privilege, no one has been a more effective advocate for the poor and the middle class." Manley said his former boss "has never been afraid to compromise in order to get things done."