Finally that fat son of a whore will lose some weight. The only reason his kids are all smiles is because once that fat drunk kicks the bucket they can back up the Brinks truck to the mansions and pick his bones. JD.

BOSTON — Senator Edward M. Kennedy, the longtime Massachusetts Democrat and patriarch of the Kennedy family, has a malignant brain tumor, his doctors said on Tuesday.

Doctors here at Massachusetts General Hospital, who were investigating the cause of a seizure that Mr. Kennedy, 76, suffered at his Cape Cod compound on Saturday, said preliminary results from a biopsy of the brain had revealed that he has a malignant glioma in the left parietal lobe, the upper left part of his brain.

Dr. Lee H. Schwamm, the hospital’s vice chairman of neurology, and Dr. Larry Ronan, Mr. Kennedy’s primary care physician at the hospital, said in a statement that “the usual course of treatment includes combinations of various forms of radiation and chemotherapy” and that “decisions regarding the best course of treatment for Senator Kennedy will be determined after further testing and analysis.”

News of the brain tumor jolted people in Washington, Massachusetts and beyond, generating reaction from around the world, where Mr. Kennedy’s family legacy and his 46 years in the Senate have made him a well-known figure.

Aside from an unsuccessful run for president in 1980, Mr. Kennedy has focused his energy on issues including health care, education and civil rights. Despite his liberal ideology and occasional loud clashes on the Senate floor, Mr. Kennedy is held in high esteem by the opposition for his determination, understanding of the issues, and a willingness to work in a bipartisan fashion on subjects like education, health care and immigration.

“Senator Kennedy enjoys great respect and admiration on this side of the aisle,” said Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader. “He is indeed one of the most important figures to ever serve in this body in our history.”

In a statement, President Bush said, “Ted Kennedy is a man of tremendous courage, remarkable strength, and powerful spirit.” Mr. Bush said he and his wife, Laura, “join our fellow Americans in praying for his full recovery.”

Senator John McCain echoed that sentiment, and both Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton invoked Mr. Kennedy at length on Tuesday night in their speeches following the Oregon and Kentucky primaries.

Doctors and people close to Mr. Kennedy said he would remain in the hospital for the next couple of days. The doctors said he was “in overall good condition” and “remains in good spirits and full of energy.” He has not had another seizure since he was hospitalized, they said.

“Right now, he’s his normal self, except for the news that he’s dealing with,” said a close friend who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “I bet he’ll be back at the Cape sailing this weekend. I expect he’ll go back to work” after the Memorial Day recess.

Senate Democrats and Republicans learned of Mr. Kennedy’s condition as they were gathered for their weekly closed-door party luncheons, and members of both parties were visibly shaken by the news.

As he opened debate on the Iraq spending bill, Senator Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia, at 90 the only current senator to serve longer than Mr. Kennedy, was distraught. “Ted, Ted, my dear friend, I love you and miss you,” Mr. Byrd said in halting remarks on the floor.

Malignant glioma is the most common form of brain cancer, accounting for about 9,000 cases diagnosed each year in the United States, according to the National Cancer Institute. They are more common in older people, especially those between the ages of 75 and 84, according to the American Cancer Society.

The prognosis varies depending on the type and severity of the tumor, and the patient’s age. The American Cancer Society said survival rates dropped with increasing age.

Dr. Patrick Y. Wen, clinical director of the Center for Neuro-Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, said the average prognosis for the most aggressive type of glioma was 14 to 15 months, while the prognosis for slower-growing tumors was two to four years.

“This is a sad situation,” Dr. Wen said. He said that such tumors can sometimes affect sensation, speech, or vision, and that tumors in older people tend to be harder to treat. “These are unfortunately aggressive tumors.”

Alain Charest, an assistant professor of neurosurgery at Tufts Medical Center, said if the tumor could be removed surgically doctors would do so, although gliomas are difficult to remove because cells from the tumor tend to travel to other parts of the brain. Radiation and chemotherapy usually follow surgery.

Dr. Carl B. Heilman, chairman of the department of neurosurgery at Tufts Medical Center, said that most people went back to work after a biopsy, and that many patients responded well to radiation therapy and oral chemotherapy at first.

Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts said on Tuesday in Washington that he had visited Mr. Kennedy over the weekend.

“He’s in a fighting mood,” Mr. Kerry said. “He is asking questions about what the choices are for him. He’s deeply involved in making all the kinds of personal decisions that any of you would.”

Mr. Kerry added: “He would call you and help arrange a discussion with a bunch of doctors to talk about a wife who was sick or a child or any number of things — now everybody needs to do that on behalf of Ted. Everybody needs to pull for him and his family and remember that this guy is one unbelievable fighter.”

In Massachusetts, the impact of Mr. Kennedy’s persona and political legacy is hard to overestimate.

“There’ll never be another Ted Kennedy,” said Paul S. Grogan, president and chief executive of the Boston Foundation, which finances nonprofits involved in economic development and other state issues. “He’s sort of Horatio at the bridge. He’s been such an outsized figure, so influential, so effective.”

Mr. Grogan said that Mr. Kennedy had given Massachusetts a level of political prominence beyond what would normally be accorded a state of its size, and that he had helped engineer policies and financing mechanisms that benefited important sectors of the state, including universities and medical centers.

“He’s single-handedly postponed the onset of Massachusetts’s political decline,” Mr. Grogan said, adding, “His vigor, his vitality and his longevity has kind of encouraged us all to believe that he’s immortal, and we’ve gotten used to the idea that he’s going to be around forever. But this is a reminder that he’s not.”

Cameron Kerry, a lawyer who is the brother of Senator Kerry, said the news of the brain tumor was “like an earthquake,” adding, “He’s just such a colossus that this kind of shakes the ground underneath everything.”

Mr. Kerry said that “on a political level, he’s just been so good to my brother and to the whole family. He really is like family.”

Jack Connors, a businessman who is active in Democratic causes, said: “Ted Kennedy raised public service to an art form. Ted Kennedy has really been a hero for people who don’t really have much of a voice.”

Representative Barney Frank, Democrat of Massachusetts, called him “clearly the most influential senator in U.S. history.” Mr. Frank added: “His personality, his understanding of the legislative process, his dedication. He has a good sense of other people, a lot of empathy. And he hires first-rate people and knows how to benefit from them.”

Legislators close to Mr. Kennedy, like Senator Christopher J. Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut, said on Tuesday that they were certain Mr. Kennedy would return to work and would battle the tumor with his characteristic tenacity and energy.

“He’s a fighter,” said Representative Edward J. Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts, “and he’s definitely ready for this fight.”

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The New York Times reports Sen. Barack Obama “sought on Wednesday to set aside the controversy over his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., and steer the conversation in the Democratic presidential campaign back to the economy.” Obama campaigned in Indiana yesterday, where he held “a series of events intended to highlight his proposals for tax cuts for the middle class,” but campaign aides “conceded that the subject of Mr. Wright’s views and his relationship with Mr. Obama were hardly going away.” On NBC Nightly News Obama said: “If I wanted to be politically expedient, I would have distanced myself and denounced him right away. Right? That would have been the easy thing to do, that would have been the standard stock political advice. I don’t think anybody who watched me yesterday thought I was being calculating because it obviously wasn’t an easy thing to do.”

Much of the media coverage of the issue is now focused on the impact of the Wright issue on Obama’s candidacy. For example, the Christian Science Monitor says Obama’s break with Wright “could turn off some poorer and older, civil rights-era blacks who may already wonder about Obama’s ability to identify with their lives, say experts in black politics and some black voters.” However, The Hill reports lawmakers backing Obama “say they have no fears about a backlash against Democrats or their candidate because of the controversial remarks by Rev. Jeremiah Wright.” Long Island Newsday reports that in Indiana, “voters are likely to forgive Obama when it comes to his relationship with Wright, said Philip Goff, the director of the Center for Study of Religion and American Culture at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.”

Clinton Weighs In Sen. Hillary Clinton weighed in on the issue last night in an appearance on Fox News’ O’Reilly Factor, saying of Wright’s comments, “I take offense at it. I think it’s offensive and outrageous. … I sure don’t believe the United States government was behind AIDS. … It is so far out it’s hard to even understand and take seriously. … I think” Obama “made his views clear finally, that he disagreed. I think that’s what he had to do.” The New York Daily News says that Clinton “rubbed salt into Barack Obama’s wounds…suggesting her rival’s denunciation of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright was overdue.” In a story headlined “HILL GIVES O WRIGHT CROSS,” the New York Post reports that Clinton’s “forceful condemnation of Wright and slap at Obama gave more life to the story, as new polling revealed it could deeply damage Obama’s image as a popular, unifying figure.”

Three Polls Show Tight General Election Race

Three new national polls out in the last 24 hours shows Sen. John McCain competitive with both Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in general election match-ups despite dismal approval ratings for both President Bush and the GOP. The polls also show Obama maintaining a lead over Clinton among Democrats dispute the re-emergence of the Wright issue. An NBC Nightly News /Wall Street Journal poll shows that while only 27% of voters have a positive view of the GOP, McCain trails Clinton only 45%-44% and Obama 46%-43% in general election trial heats. In the Democratic primary, that poll shows Obama leading Clinton 46%-43% among Democrats.

A CBS Evening News /New York Times poll shows Clinton leading McCain 48%-43%, while Obama and McCain are tied at 45% apiece. In the Democratic primary, Obama leads Clinton 46%-38%.

A FOX News /Opinion Dynamics poll shows Hillary Clinton leading John McCain 45%-44% in a general election trial heat. McCain leads Barack Obama 46%-43%. Among Democrats, Obama leads Clinton 44%-41%, about the same spread as a month ago, when Clinton led Obama by 2 points.

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Gas Tax Holiday Proposal Called Ineffective

Both Hillary Clinton and John McCain have proposed putting the 18.5 cent federal gas tax on hiatus during this summer in an attempt to ease the pain at the pump for American drivers, while Barack Obama opposes the idea. As the Boston Globe reports, Clinton highlighted the issue during a campaign stop at a gas station in Indiana yesterday, while the AP reports she is also touting her proposal in a campaign ad. Today, a number of media outlets are casting doubts on the effectiveness of the proposal. ABC World News, in its second story last night, ran a negative review of the proposals, reporting, “Economists have two basic concerns. First, the savings would be minimal. The average motorist would pocket $30 for the entire summer,” adding the “more fundamental concern, if you take away the gas tax, demand will spike. More people out on the roads, tapping into a finite supply of gas. Prices would likely go up.” In a front page story this morning, the Washington Post says that a “growing chorus — including a top congressional Democrat labeled” the plan as “ineffective and shortsighted.” In addition, the New York Times and the Washington Post both pan the idea in editorials this morning.

However, it is not all good news for Obama the AP reports that despite his current opposition, in 2000, Obama voted three times in the Illinois state senate to suspend state gas taxes.

Clinton Backers Fund Big Dollar Anti-Obama Ad

The AP reports Sen. Barack Obama is outpacing Sen. Hillary Clinton about 2 to 1 in ad spending in North Carolina and Indiana, which hold their primaries on Tuesday, but some Clinton backers are looking to even those odds. The Los Angeles Times reports backers of Clinton “have poured nearly $1 million into an independent ad campaign committee critical of” Obama in Indiana. The ad purchase, “including another $220,000″ yesterday, “means that the California-based American Leadership Project has spent more on ads in Indiana than in any other state, including the far more populous Texas, Pennsylvania and Ohio.” The effort is “funded primarily by unions that are backing Clinton.” Obama is not taking the move lying down, as the AP reports Obama’s campaign “wants federal regulators to investigate fellow Democrats who are backing Hillary Rodham Clinton’s candidacy, taking intraparty discord to a new level of confrontation.” Obama campaign lawyer Robert Bauer “filed a complaint Wednesday with the Federal Election Commission, accusing the pro-Clinton American Leadership Project of violating campaign finance laws by running ads against Obama.”

Husband Played Role In Outsourcing Case Often Cited By Clinton

McClatchy reports this morning that Sen. Hillary Clinton “loves to tell the story about how the Chinese government bought a good American company in Indiana, laid off all its workers and moved its critical defense technology work to China.” But what Clinton “never includes in the oft-repeated tale is the role that prominent Democrats played in selling the company and its technology to the Chinese. She never mentions that big-time Democratic contributor George Soros helped put together the deal to sell the company or that the sale was approved by her husband’s administration.” ABC World News also reported on the story last night, noting that “there’s one key part of the story that Senator Clinton tends to leave out, her husband’s role.” Over and “over again, Clinton blames President Bush for dropping the ball on a national security issue.” What Clinton “does not say is that her husband could have stopped it because the Chinese bought Magnequench in 1995, when he was president. And his Administration approved the deal despite national security concerns raised partly because the Chinese companies were run by sons in law of then-Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping.”

More Superdelegates Declare, Mostly For Obama

There was more movement on the superdelegate front yesterday, most of it favoring Sen. Barack Obama. The Hill reports that Iowa Rep. Bruce Braley (D) yesterday backed Obama, while The Politico adds that California Rep. Lois Capps (D) also backed him, despite “long ties to both Clintons.” Perhaps more importantly, Indiana Rep. Baron Hill (D), in a state that holds its primary on Tuesday, also backed Obama, the AP reports. The Indianapolis Star reports that Hill “said he considers Obama and” Clinton “to be ‘formidable candidates’ but that Obama is best able to move the nation past partisan gridlock.” The AP reports this morning that Joe Andrew, who headed the Democratic National Committee under Bill Clinton, is expected to switch his allegiance today from Clinton to Obama. In an interview with the AP, Andrew said, “I am convinced that the primary process has devolved to the point that it’s now bad for the Democratic Party.”

However, Clinton did pick up the backing of superdelegate Bill George, president of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO, the Easton Express-Times reports this morning.

The AP reports that with this week’s endorsements, Obama now trails Clinton in superdelegates 243-264, “cutting her lead in half in less than two months.” Obama “now leads in the delegate count overall 1731.5 to 1598.5 for Clinton. A candidate needs 2,025 delegates to win the nomination. About 230 superdelegates remain undecided, and about 60 more will be selected at state party conventions and meetings throughout the spring.” It is not clear if all of the declarations in the last 24 hours are counted in the AP total.

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