U.S. Senator Edward M. Kennedy, the veteran lawmaker from Massachusetts who is the last surviving brother in the legendary Kennedy family, has been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor, his doctors said today.

Specialists in Boston said the information released indicated that Ted Kennedy has terminal cancer and might have only a limited time to live.

At best, the liberal icon’s prognosis is uncertain.

The youngest of the nine children of Joseph P. Kennedy and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, Ted was elected to the Senate in 1962 to finish the term of his brother, John F. Kennedy, who had been elected president. Now the Senate’s second-most senior member, Ted Kennedy is serving his eighth term.

A champion of Democratic causes for nearly five decades, he ran for president in 1980, losing the party’s nomination to President Jimmy Carter.

Ted’s illness comes as devastating news for Massachusetts and much of the political world, regardless of which side of the spectrum you fall under. Follow the jump to see what some of Kennedy’s colleagues had to say.

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Not shockingly, the Kennedys‘ endorsement of Barack Obama got a lot of people talking about what effect the backing of one of the Senate’s most senior Democrats would have on Obama’s campaign.

Will the young senator from Illinois inherit the Kennedy mystique that was the late president’s?

Kennedy is far from the only member of the Democratic establishment who has decided to support Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton.

The list is impressive, powerful names like Sens. John Kerry (above), Patrick Leahy and Kent Conrad, former Majority Leader Tom Daschle, California Rep. George Miller and Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius.

Interesting that they would turn their backs on Hillary, the wife of one of the party’s most popular figures, and a key player in the party herself.

But The Politico notes how Washington’s liberal establishment has joined together around the view that Former President Bill Clinton is tarnishing his legacy and hurting his wife’s prospects in the process.

The South Carolina rout lends credence to that argument.

The question remains, of course: Will more Democratic power brokers follow suit and risk alienation from someone as powerful as Hillary Clinton by backing an upstart? And will it be enough to help Barack Obama survive a de facto national primary on Super Tuesday?

The unspoken rift between Democratic politics’ two most most influential families continued this afternoon.

Never hugely popular with Bill and Hillary Clinton, the Kennedy clan has united in support of one Democratic hopeful - Barack Obama.

Sen. Edward Kennedy backed the underdog for president Monday, saying: “It is time again for a new generation of leadership.”

“It is time now for Barack Obama,” the Massachusetts senator and brother of the late President John F. Kennedy added.

Ted Kennedy stood with Barack Obama, his son Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) and his niece, Caroline Kennedy (daughter of F. John Kennedy) before a screaming capacity crowd at American University in Washington.

“Like you, we want a president who appeals to the hopes of those who still believe in the American dream,” Kennedy said. “I’ve found that candidate.”

Over the weekend, Caroline Kennedy likened the Illinois senator to her late father in a New York Times editorial.

“I have never had a president who inspired me the way people tell me that my father inspired them,” she wrote.

“But for the first time, I believe I have found a man who could be that president — and not just for me, but for a new generation of Americans.”

Endorsements typically mean little, but does this one actually carry some weight? Follow the jump for reasons it might …
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