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Edward Kennedy - Latest Stories

Songwriting is bridge for Franken, Hatch

By Chris Steller | 01.08.10 | 1:46 pm

Al Franken recently sought out songwriting help from Orrin “Eight Days of Hannukah” Hatch, the Minnesota senator tells the ECM Publishers editorial board.

Franken: I’ll carry on Kennedy’s cause

By Chris Steller | 08.26.09 | 3:29 pm

U.S. Sen. Al Franken said today that the absence of the ailing Sen. Edward Kennedy was already “a major loss” to the Senate debate on health care reform, and now the Massachusetts Democrat’s death “just makes me more determined to…

Klobuchar: Kennedy’s salons held ‘delightfulness, wit’

By Chris Steller | 08.26.09 | 12:36 pm

“The lantern is lit” is the cryptic message Sen. Ted Kennedy used to summon Sen. Amy Klobuchar to his tiny, memorabilia-bedecked U.S. Capitol office, where the liberal lion held a small salon of senators rapt with Irish yarns, Boston stories and tales from the campaign trail.

Rightwing bloggers: Kennedy funeral will be ‘Wellstone memorial on steroids’

By Paul Schmelzer | 08.26.09 | 11:56 am

President Obama called Congress’ “liberal lion,” Edward Kennedy, the “greatest United States senator of our time” — and his burial at Arlington National Cemetery will match that praise. But conservative bloggers are already complaining…

Klobuchar’s official statement on Kennedy

By Chris Steller | 08.26.09 | 8:56 am

klobucharIn a statement, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar recalled the late Sen. Edward Kennedy’s “wit and stories” and “fiery zest,” calling him an “inspiration.”

Before he was a senator, Franken played one on TV

By Chris Steller | 07.08.09 | 10:03 am

In a story on the Senate Judiciary Committee taking up Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court next week, the New York Times makes mention of something noted here last week: committee member Al Franken’s

Keeping Dems from 60 votes in Senate: cancer, staph infection, Coleman

By Chris Steller | 06.09.09 | 6:45 am

Norm Coleman isn’t the only obstacle to Democrats wielding 60 votes in the U.S. Senate. Edward Kennedy’s battle with brain cancer and Robert Byrd’s staph infection have effectively whittled an otherwise filibuster-proof majority down to 57 — for now.

Reid: We’ll break filibuster with Franken

By Chris Steller | 05.14.09 | 9:12 am

reid-on-frankenAl Franken will break the first Republican filibuster of an Obama nominee. That was the vow of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid before GOP senators blocked President Obama’s nomination of David Hayes as deputy Secretary of the Interior. “If…

Congress nibbles on edges of wealth gap

By Mike Lillis | 04.13.09 | 8:56 am

As Congress prepares to consider a series of consumer-friendly finance reforms, some minority advocates, researchers and lawmakers are pointing to a trend as another reason the reforms are urgently needed.

Dems push for Ramstad to lead mental health, drug abuse agency

By Jonathan E. Kaplan | 12.10.08 | 8:52 am

While Rep. Jim Ramstad’s name has been floated as a possible choice for “drug czar” in the administration of Barack Obama, the retiring nine-term congressman has apparently set his sights on another job, head of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration — and the Republican has enlisted Democrats, notably Sen. Edward Kennedy and Reps. Patrick Kennedy and Pete Stark, to lobby on his behalf.