Long time Massachusetts Senator, Ted Kennedy passed away at the age of 77 after a year-long bout with brain cancer, and followed in his brothers’ footsteps of dying.
This was one of the great ironies of the senator’s career. For decades, his
liberalism and labor ties made him a butt of ridicule for the right. Former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) first came to Congress literally campaigning against Ted Kennedy liberalism.

But over time, that standing allowed Kennedy to be an agent for compromise, an independent actor with a penchant for deal-making that even annoyed his own party leaders. This was true on education, immigration and health issues in the past decade. No other single Democrat could provide such political cover for others when he opted to move to the center.