Kennedy Back Home in Mass. After Surgery

White House pulls out the stops in Mass. special election

(NEWSER) - President Obama will campaign for Martha Coakley Sunday in hopes of bolstering her bid for the late Ted Kennedy's Senate seat. The White House initially shied away from getting Obama involved in the Massachusetts special election, which is widely considered a referendum on his tenure. But the latest polls show Republican Scott Brown, who has vowed to scuttle health care reform, leading Coakley. More»

Kennedy's death left a void—and no one is stepping up to fill it

(NEWSER) - As Democrats fight among themselves over health care, it’s becoming painfully clear that they lack a clear public leader on the issue, writes Manu Raju for Politico. In part it’s because, with a number of House and Senate committees involved, there are too many cooks stirring the pot, and in part because there’s no Ted Kennedy-esque figure who commands respect. Liberals distrust Max Baucus; Chris Dodd, who stepped in for Kennedy and drafted a competing bill, is more focused on financial reform. More»

(NEWSER) - Thousands of constituents and admirers turned out this afternoon to honor Ted Kennedy as a motorcade bearing the senator's body from his Cape Cod home to his brother's presidential library wound through the streets of Boston. Some wept, some applauded as both locals and out-of-towners flooded to say goodbye. "We’re his family,” one Bostonian told the Globe. “We loved him so much, and we’ll miss him so much." More»

(AP) - Ted Kennedy's body is en route to Boston, where he will lie in repose at his slain brother's presidential library for 2 days of public visitation. The motorcade carrying the senator's body and members of his family departed the family compound on Cape Cod for the 70-mile trip to the state capital. Hundreds of people are lining the route of the motorcade, which will end at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston. More»

(NEWSER) - When Ted Kennedy was diagnosed with brain cancer, he insisted that he would have a "good ending for myself," and friends tell the New York Times that the late senator's last 15 months were filled with joy. He and his wife Vicki spent evenings watching 24 and James Bond films, and in July he enjoyed near-nightly dinner parties with family. He also raced to finish work and his memoirs, saying, "I've got to get this right for history." More»