Ted (Edward) Kennedy

Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy, the last of the legendary Kennedy brothers and keeper of the torch pf legacy who is battling a brain tumor, surprised ‘em and wowed ‘em at the Democratic convention — appearing after a day of speculative reports in what could be his last hurrah in front of a huge national convention crowd.

“This November the torch will be passed again to a new generation of Americans,” Kennedy thundered in his familiar baritone, which cracked only slightly on the highest, loudest notes.

It was Kennedy’s powerful, perfectly timed endorsement of Sen. Barack Obama on a cold day last January, eight days before the critical Super Tuesday primaries, that assuaged the doubts of many Democrats about Obama’s candidacy.

VETERAN senator Ted Kennedy made an emotional and surprise appearance at the Democratic National Convention, imploring Americans in a prime time address to pass the torch of hope to a new generation of Americans in November.

“It is so wonderful to be here,” he said, after arriving earlier in the day and sporting some hair loss in his trademark silver mane.

Kennedy, 76, is under treatment for a malignant melanoma and was widely tipped to miss the convention. He is an ardent supporter of Barack Obama who he has compared with his slain brothers John F[.] and Bobby.

“Nothing, nothing is going to keep me away from this special gathering tonight,” he said, pledging too that “I will be there next January on the floor of the US senate”, for an Obama administration.

Brother to assassinated President John F. Kennedy and to Robert Kennedy, who was shot down in Los Angeles during his quest for the 1968 Democratic nomination, Edward Kennedy sought the presidency himself in 1980, losing a bitter convention battle to President Jimmy Carter.

Frustrations abounded most pointedly for Mrs. Clinton: at a breakfast with New York Democrats on Monday morning, she was forced to rebut a new television advertisement for Senator John McCain that used her past attacks on Mr. Obama against him.

At one point she told aides that the Obama campaign could end the bad blood with her husband by simply acknowledging his policy accomplishments and efforts at racial reconciliation in the 1990s — in amends for what the Clintons saw as a lack of respect from Mr. Obama during the primaries.