[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikWDLnngNd4[/youtube]

Kennedy's illness stirs talk about family legacy

By Jason Szep

BOSTON, May 21 (Reuters) - As U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy battles a brain tumor in Massachusetts General Hospital, his home state is hoping his illness will not bring a swift end to the Kennedy era.

Kennedy, 76, the last of four brothers in America's most storied political dynasty, has been in the hospital since he suffered a seizure at his family vacation home on Cape Cod on Sunday.

"There seems to be no one there to pick up the torch," said Thomas Whalen, a professor of politics at Boston University.

"There doesn't seem to be someone in the next generation to carry the load here -- Ted Kennedy might be it, he might be the end of the line," said Whalen, author of "Kennedy versus Lodge: The 1952 Massachusetts Senate Race."

Massachusetts, a bastion of the type of liberal politics Kennedy championed for four decades, has been stunned by the Democratic icon's diagnosis of glioma, a type of tumor that kills half its victims within a year.

"Everyone has to take a deep breath," said Jeffrey Berry, a a political science professor at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts. "There will be no pressure on him to step down even if he becomes quite ill from treatment."
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCr ... SN20328154

This could very well be the end of a great era-I know there is another Kennedy involved in politics, but he doesn't have the 'power' like the elders. About the only other is Maria Shriver (first lady of California)-pero siempre no es igual. He's been a member of Congress for a long time.