Edward M. Kennedy

Massachusetts

At 74, Kennedy has served in the Senate for 44 years -- the third-longest tenure in U.S. history -- and is the body's most enduring liberal. The younger brother of President John F. Kennedy -- and once a presidential candidate himself -- he has long been the patriarch of a family of extraordinary political achievement and personal tragedy.

A polarizing figure in American political life, Kennedy also has been a champion of poor and working people. In the 1960s, he sponsored the National Teacher Corps, helped to create health centers in low-income neighborhoods and pushed for bilingual education. More recently, he was author of the Family and Medical Leave Act, health insurance improvements, and efforts to reduce health care disparities between minorities and other U.S. residents.

When President Bush took office in 2001, Kennedy quickly collaborated with the administration and congressional Republicans on the No Child Left Behind education law. Such bipartisanship gave way, though, to his strong liberal views. He has been an outspoken critic of the administration's policies on Iraq and of the GOP version of the 2003 law that added prescription drug coverage to Medicare.