WASHINGTON - — WASHINGTON - -As the nation mourned the death of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy on Wednesday, President Barack Obama and members of Congress began to size up what the loss of the legendary deal maker and the liberals' most powerful voice will mean for Democrats as they seek to redirect the nation's domestic and foreign policies.
Shell-shocked but not surprised by the end of Kennedy's yearlong battle with brain cancer, many Democrats worried that no one could fill his shoes as Congress moves toward a crucial juncture in the drive to overhaul health care - his lifelong passion.
After a summer in which the battle over health care broke along predictable party lines, Democrats had hoped to tap into Kennedy's time-tested ability to forge legislative compromises.
Now, some Democrats seem to be grasping at straws, hoping that his death would inspire a deadlocked Congress.
"Maybe Teddy's passing will remind people we're there to do a job," said Connecticut Democratic Sen. Christopher J. Dodd.
Kennedy will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery on Saturday, near the graves of his brothers, President John F. Kennedy and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy. The public memorial begins today at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston, where his body will lie in repose through Friday. A funeral Mass is planned Saturday in Boston.
The burial at Arlington, near the eternal flame that memorializes President Kennedy, will be a private ceremony.
The Senate has been doing without Kennedy for months, because he has been receiving taxing cancer treatments and living out his final days at his family compound on Cape Cod. But his absence will be even more acutely felt in the coming months as Democrats mull how much they will have to give up in exchange for at least some GOP support on health care - and whether they can hold their own ranks together as they compromise..
It is exactly that stage of legislating at which Kennedy excelled, thanks to personal and political assets not shared by Obama and other key Senate Democrats like Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus of Montana and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada.
Under Massachusetts law, his replacement in the Senate will be chosen by a special election no sooner than January 19, 2010. Unless the state legislature changes the law, as Kennedy had requested just before his death, Massachusetts might be represented by only one senator, Democrat John F. Kerry, for up to five months.
