right back to where your laptop's at... ♪ ♪ log on to free credit report dot com - stat! ♪ vo: free credit score and report with enrollment in triple advantage. it doesn't cover everything. and what it doesn't cover can cost you some money. that's why you should consider... an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan... insured by united healthcare insurance company. it can help cover some of what medicare doesn't... so you could save up to thousands of dollars... in out-of-pocket expenses. call now for this free information kit... and medicare guide. if you're turning 65 or you're already on medicare, you should know about this card; it's the only one of its kind... that carries the aarp name -- see if it's right for you. you choose your doctor. you choose your hospital. there are no networks and no referrals needed. help protect yourself from some of what medicare doesn't cover. save up to thousands of dollars... on potential out-of-pocket expenses... with an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan...

insured by united althcare insurance company. call now for your free information kit... and medicare guide and find out... how you could start saving. good day and welcome to this special edition of "andrea mitchell" live from hyannis port, massachusetts today, a very sad day for america, the loss of senator kennedy. brother of president john f. kennedy and an inspiration of millions died late last night at his family compound behind me here on cape cod after a year-long battle with brain cancer. funeral plans have not been officially announced but the senator will be interred at arlington national cemetery where two of his brother lay. we understand that he will lie

in repose in boston at the kennedy library and that the funeral will be held in boston at the mission church there in the mission hills section of boston. ted kennedy, the only one of the four kennedy brothers to die of natural causes in a family plagued by tragedy. at 77 years old the senator's reign spanned ten presidencies including his brother's. he served for close to 47 years in the senate. his legislative legacy includes working across party lines, seeking equality for all, and his own declined as he turned his attention and whole hearted support to health care reform, the passion of his life. exactly one year ago, almost to the hour he died, ted kennedy made a powerful appearance at the democratic national convention and played a pivotal role, endorsing barack obama, passing his brother's legsy to the young african-american democrat. >> this november the torch will be passed again to a new

generation of americans. the work begins anew. the hope rises again. and the dream lives on. >> today presidents past and present, rivals and friends, are reflecting on the man whose work touched so many lives. >> -- on this earth has come to an end. and the extraordinary good that he did lives on. for his family, he was a guardian. for america, he was a defender of a dream. >> i don't think there's anybody that serves in the u.s. congress now that could possibly be missed by the american people as much as ted kennedy. >> and here with me now, nbc news anchor and managing editor and nightly news anchor and managing editor brian williams. the legacy, when you think about health care, incomplete of course but it was the passion of his life but the issues -- gun

control, of course, sparked by the horrible tragedies to his brothers. where do you begin when we talk about what ted kennedy represents domestically and internationally because of his opposition to the war? >> well, we can prove it with a negative. there isn't a major piece of social legislation over the past four decades that wasn't touched by ted kennedy. and, andrea, as you know, being a long-time washington resident covering the scene there, there were fancier committees he could have put his flag in the ground and dug into, but he did a lot of his work on labor and human resources as it was called. decidedly unsexy, but it's work stretched into american life. and he was able to do things for the people he worried about. he always said, as you know, born a child of privilege. he was a rich guy from a better than average neighborhood here on cape cod. >> i would say.

>> a lovely place. but he was the hero of those who weren't born with this and these days that meant the underinsured, the uninsured. >> and health care -- the passion that he brought to that, before his illness but certainly empathized after his illness. he really wanted that to happen. that is one of the reasons why this president, barack obama, put so much into health care reform. we see now this troubled state would have been in a different position if cape kennedy had been able to be engaged. >> there are two theories, that without its lion it could wobble and the other theory, of course, that proponents are hoping for, and that is that in his memory, with the power behind the legacy that his death reminds us of,

well, perhaps it will oddly breathe new life into the health care debate. i received and saw an e-mail today that said in lieu of flowers, let's pass health care reform. and it had to do with the death of ted kennedy. >> before i let you go, to prepare for what we know will be a special one-hour edition of nbc nightly news tonight, the bipartisan nature of this man, because people from patrick j. buchanan this morning on "morning joe" and other republicans, i remember dan quayle working with him on a jobs bill. people worked with him yet at the same time if you are donald rumsfeld going in front of the senate armed services committee having gone to war and not found weapons of mass destruction, woe is you. >> he was going to war against you. yeah. one writer today said, in effect, yes, he was an irish romantic but he was also a clear-eyed pragmatist.

a lot of the stretches across the aisle to the other party was just because he needed them and it was his nature to make friends and be charming. i hope his irishness, his roots in this soil and soil across the atlantic gets talked about and covered. but it was that part of him that led to that explosion of bipartisanship there briefly -- not on all issues but on some -- that results in his reputation. >> brian williams, thanks so much for taking the time. we'll see you tonight on "nightly news" one hour tonight. >> thank you. now back to new york and chris matthews, host of "hardball." thanks for joining us. you are a long-time kennedy watcher on the hill. you worked for tip o'neil. you saw the way he operated within the massachusetts delegation with the great speaker of the house, tip o'neill. what was that side of ted kennedy? >> well, i keep thinking of stories, you know, back when he became the senator from massachusetts, replacing his brother, jack, it was back in

'63. he called a party at his house of the delegation. they're ally rish guys most of them. in fact, all men at that point, and they all came over to his house. now, the jack kennedy tradition was to have the pols over for drinks and excuse them and have the aristocrats over for dinner. so he says we're ready to pull out and teddy says, no. you're staying for supper. there was a difference between ted kennedy and jack kennedy. jack kennedy was an aristocrat, hung out with people of inherited wealth. those are the people he was comfortable with. ted kennedy was much more democratic, lower case "d" and his friends were staffers and all sorts of people even more so than bobby. he was much more democratic in the best sense. >> it was perhaps almost generational. you know, stories about health care, i know one particular former staff member of his and

she was one of his closest aides for years and years thoon committee. when she was suffering a recurrence of cancer, he pulled out every stop. he called nih. he didn't ask for any favors. he just went about finding the best doctors. then again when bob novak, who could be more of a conservative republican than bob novak. >> right. >> who of course we lost in the last week and when bob novak was diagnosed with the same kind of brain cancer that ted kennedy had suffered, vicki kennedy and the senator called from his sick bed to geraldin and bob novak recommending surgery at duke university because they knew of the doctor because he had just had that surgery. so he was an ombudsman when it came to health care for all of the people he ran across in the senate. >> well, that was ted kennedy, and i don't know whether we'll ever quite figure out during the couple days of mourning why he was so big on health care except that he had a broken back as you pointed out. imagine spending your life with a broken back and not an injury,

a broken back, and yet spending most of your life worrying about other people's health problems. his older brother, jack, was so sick most of his life, rather secretly, that bobby his other brother used to say if a mosquito ever bit jack he'd have died immediately. the family had health problems all those years especially with rosemary and jack and then with teddy and then ted jr. ankard k, all the cancer in the family, addiction problems and serious medical needs and i'm sure ted kipt saying to himself i'm glad we have the money to take care of it. most people don't. >> when he had that terrible injury, the back, the plane crash, that's when i believe he started painting, doing water colors, many of his friends were beneficiaries. i have to confess, full disclosure here, that when i was engaged, became engaged he sent over a wonderful sailing picture which is framed in my dining room so he was very generous with his talent as well. let's talk for a moment about

the legacy and the brothers. you've been working so hard. you've been immersed in the history of this family for this documentary airing tonight at 9:00. let's watch a little bit and then you can talk about what you've learned. >> sure. >> i do not run for the presidency merely to oppose any man but to propose new policies. >> robert kennedy's impassioned 1968 campaign had little in common with the well oiled kennedy campaign machine that made jack president eight years earlier. the bobby kennedy campaign. what was different about that from what you remember and knew about the jack kennedy campaigns? >> well, it was a lot less organized. as you know, my father was very ambivalent as to whether to run and so it was put together more in a haphazard way. it was his spirit that got things through rather than the organization. >> there was this enormous,

enormous surge. everywhere he went, of youthful enthusiasm. it was extraordinary. grabbing and mauling him and snatching his cuff links and kids on tricycles and bikes pumping along the motorcade. >> well, it's going to be something. i'm so proud of having worked on this with the other people at msnbc and nbc. i think it's our best piece of work. it's an hour on the kennedy brothers and shows how they were a set of brothers, an amazing american family, brothers, and it's a celebration, an irish wake of sorts tonight on msnbc at 9:00. >> and of course we've been through too many of these just with eunice shriver so recently up here. more thought about the next generation. we know the great work of maria shriver, caroline kennedy in education but not elected office so far at least because of the disappointment in new york. what about the next generation? did he actually virtually pass

the torch to barack obama back during the campaign? is that the real heir to the kennedys? >> i think so. i think he thought it through. he read and i think felt what caroline kennedy wrote in "the new york times" that sunday and i really think he knew, this is not a royal family. this is not a family that has a right because of blood ties to any authority in american life. it was a wonderful sort of accident that all the brothers had this ability to run for president and the ambition to do so. i think he passed that torch rather almost religiously to barack obama and now it's barack obama's honor but also his mantle to carry. i mean, he has yet to be able to show that he can handle this. we'll see in the months and years ahead if barack obama is able to pull that weight the kennedy brothers gave to him. i think he is the new brother if you will in this family of american life now and as an african-american he's always had that burden of challenge but now

he's got it all alone now on health care. all alone. >> well, a big picture from you, chris matthews, "the kennedy brothers" a "hardball" documentary tonight at 9:00 on msnbc. congratulations on a great piece of work. we all look forward to seeing it in full. >> you'll love it, andrea. you're going to love it. >> i know i will. >> thank you. >> and joining us on the phone now, we've talked about kennedy, senator kennedy as a bipartisan legislator, someone who reached out across the lines. he also could be very partisan, fiercely partisan as we know and quite liberal but joining us now on the phone, a republican, a conservative, but someone who knew prekd wesenator kennedy fos in the senate. >> the state of massachusetts and the nation has lost an outstanding senator. he used his position to fight for working families in his home

state, across the country and our thoughts and prayers are with vicki and the family. but i had an opportunity to work with him on many things and he was a great ally when he was working with you and when we disagreed, he was very formidible but always friendly and courteous. i think that's how the senate used to be and i will really miss him because he did understand that statesmanship involved working across lines. i feel the sadness that others do even though we disagreed strongly on some issues. he was a great ally to have on many others. >> senator, i know that another one of your friends is the vice president, joe biden. this was his reminiscence today. >> so many of his -- so many of

his foes embrace him because they know he made them bigger. he made them more graceful by the way in which he conducted himself. >> and joe biden of course sat next to him on the judiciary committee, sat next to him on the senate floor. you or one of the other veterans of the senate, you watched him operate. how did he reach across to republicans and try to gain favor on key initiatives? >> my view is that if he had been well and been here we might have had an opportunity to get a bipartisan health care bill because i know he worked very closely as chairman of the health, education, labor, and pensions committee with our ranking republican mike enzi and, clearly, what has come down the pike is not at all bipartisan and i believe that ted kennedy if he were there

would have signaled time-out. let's go back and work together. but i have, as i said, worked with him on children and family issues, on military issues. great guy to have on your side. sometimes we had really strong, tough debates on the floor. one time i went over and shook his hand afterwards and we laughed. we exchanged some pleasantries. the media couldn't believe it. they said, you and senator kennedy look so mad. i said we were arguing our positions very forcefully but that doesn't change the fact that he was a real gentleman and a great guy to get along with. >> i know he was a leader on the armed services committee and fierce opponent of the iraq war. your son, sam, served in iraq, a marine, and yet you could debate these issues with him and find some way of agreeing on the other side, right? >> obviously i feel very

strongly about standing up for our troops and especially for the marines and the intelligence committee but i -- there are other people who disagreed very strongly on the policies the republicans had, president bush had that i supported. we worked together. senator pat leahy of vermont and i are cochairs of the national guard caucus. we worked very closely on those two issues and would fight like cats on others. senator kennedy would put aside the disagreements and when you, if hawed to compromise you compromised. many, many of the children and family issues that i supported and sponsored benefited a great deal from his attention. we made some compromises. we worked together. and he helped us get many things through.

>> senator kit bond, republican of missouri reflecting on ted kennedy, the life and the legacy. thank you very much for joining us today. >> thank you, andrea. appreciate the chance. >> and msnbc special coverage -- we appreciate you having come on and having called in during the break. we'll continue with msnbc's special coverage of the life and legacy of senator ted kennedy. live from hyannis port, massachusetts, continuing next with pennsylvania governor ed rendell and former be in be in senator bob kerry joining us. he ran off with his secretary! she's 23 years old! - oh, come on. - enough! you get half and you get half. ( chirp ) team three, boathouse? ( chirp ) oh yeah-- his and hers. - ( crowd gasping ) - ( chirp ) van gogh? ( chirp ) even steven. - ( chirp ) mansion. - ( chirp ) good to go. ( grunts ) timber! ( chirp ) boss? what do we do with the shih-tzu? - ( crowd gasps ) - ( chirp ) joint custody.

- phew! - announcer: get work done now. communicate in less than a second with nextel direct connect. only on the now network. deaf, hard of hearing and people with speech disabilities access www.sprintrelay.com. find them, share them with mastercard's priceless picks app. download it now. was it really for fun, or to save money on heat? why? don't you think nordic tuesday is fun? oh no, it's fun... you know, if you are trying to cut costs, fedex can help. we've got express options, fast ground and freight service-- you can save money and keep the heat on. great idea. that is a great idea. well, if nordic tuesday wasn't so much fun. (announcer) we understand. you need to save money. fedex

some pharmacies make you work for it with memberships and fees. but not walmart. they have hundreds of generic prescriptions for just $4 for up to a 30-day supply or $10 for 90 days.

>> he could compassionately battle others and do so peerlessly on the senate floor for the causes he held dear and yet still maintain warm friendships across party lines. and that's one reason he became not only one of the greatest senators of our time but one of the most accomplished americans ever to serve our democracy. >> joining us now another democrat, governor ed rendell of pennsylvania joining us on the phone. governor, you knew teddy kennedy well. you were on both sides of issues with him but particularly on the domestic issues that had to do with health care and services for the poor in your state. what kind of a legislator was he? what kind of a fighter was he for the people whom you represent? >> well, it's really almost a paradox when you think about it, andrea. he was as passionate a fighter for the poor, the most vulnerable citizens or disabled or seniors or children that we've had in my lifetime. i've never seen anybody who could roar like a lion and reach

a crescendo of almost fury about how we were mistreating our most vulnerable citizens. the passion he would bring to that. and yet at the same time he had the ability to reach across the aisle. and everyone talks about it but almost no one does it anymore but he did it as you know with president reagan. he did it with orrin hatch. he did it with president bush on no child left behind, which i believe the original bill was a great piece of legislation. it just never got funded properly and that's why it turned out to be a disaster. but by reaching across the aisle and by doing things with his good cheer and his willingness to compromise, he was able to do things in his time in the senate that i don't think anybody else would have been able to accomplish. it's a rare gift to have that fire and that partisanship and that passion and at the same time have that ability to bring good cheer and fellowship and accommodation into the process. i don't see anybody out there that can replicate it and it makes me very sad for our

country. >> governor, you were a major player in hillary clinton's primary campaign against barack obama. when teddy kennedy and caroline and most of the family endorsed barack obama that winter did you know it was all over? >> well, i actually thought it might have been all over, andrea, but you remember that was just a few days before super tuesday and then super tuesday senator clinton had a great day including carrying massachusetts, with all of the kennedys against her, she carried massachusetts by 13 or 14 points, carried california with all of the kennedys and oprah against her by about 12 points, so she bounced back from that. i think what it did, though, over the long haul, even though it didn't have that short run effect on super tuesday, i think it really gave a stamp of legitimacy to barack obama and to a lot of people of my generation who grew up with the kennedys i think it was a very important endorsement over the long run. didn't have that short run effect. i thought it might. but hillary had a great day on

super tuesday, won almost every big state that was up in contest other than illinois, so it didn't have the short run effect but i think in the long run was pretty devastating. >> pennsylvania governor ed rendell, thanks for joining us today. >> thanks, andrea. >> thank you for being here. joining us now from washington, nbc news, chief white house correspondent, and political director chuck todd. chuck, we covered all of these campaigns. you've covered the hill for years and know the real scale of this man's legacy. >> well, it's interesting. he certainly seems to have two political legacies, right? we have senator kennedy and then there was the 20-year period basically from the moment bobby kennedy was assassinated to 1988 when he was sort of the once and future presidential candidate and savior of the democratic party and when that ended it was as if that's when the persona of

senator kennedy grew and when he went through that last trial, personal trial and tribulation basically when it came to the william kennedy smith trial and then survived the challenge against mitt romney, it was almost as if he were reborn again. that's where he went from just the third brother to ted kennedy, his own legacy, his own man. >> and ted kennedy was very helpful to the clintons during the worst period personally and presidentially for the clinton white house, up here, in fact, in hyannis port they went sailing on that awful vacation to the vineyard when of course the president had just gone through the impeachment procedure and had just testified to the grand jury. the marriage was in trouble. >> right. >> there was so much difficulty then but ted kennedy and caroline, you know, really reached out and were a comfort. that's probably why it was such a blow when he ended up in the

obama camp. >> and it is and all this of has been done eloquently by others but when you look at the choice between kennedy and clinton, the kennedys weren't as into falling in line in the establishment. in many ways they crashed the democratic party. they broke the rules. they weren't -- they didn't wait in line to run, you know, ted kennedy didn't wait in line to run for the u.s. senate. they sort of bulldozed their way in. in many ways it would have been unkennedy-like if he had gone with the establishment at that point. look, he challenged the party establishment in '80. it was almost his way. he turned down attempts when the party establishment tried to hand him the nomination in '68 and '72 and he turned those away, so he actually seemed to always embrace and in fact the kennedy legacy in general seemed to always embrace the idea of crashing the party, breaking the rules of the establishment. >> chuck todd, thanks so much

for your remembrances today. when we come back, senator bob kerry, former senator bob kerry reminiscing about his friend ted kennedy. you're watching msnbc, the place for politics on a sad day in american history. >> i have lived a blessed time. now with you i look forward to a new time of aspiration and high achievement for our nation and the world. at&t. with its built-in 3g network, it's fast and small, so it goes places other laptops can't. anything before takeoff mr. kurtis? prime rib, medium rare. i'm bill kurtis, and i've got plenty of room for the internet. and the nation's fastest 3g network. (announcer) sign up today and get a netbook for $199.99 after mail-in rebate. with built-in access to the nation's fastest 3g network. only from at&t.

and we didn't find out until i was going to get... my driver's permit at fifteen, seven months. i think the stories that affect me the most... are the ones i hear from children. they go off to start off in life, and by no fault of their own, they're already in a hole. you're supposed to, uh, protect your children. it's hard to protect them from an identity theft when... you don't know who's out there doing it. so how do you protect them from an unknown source? i just couldn't believe it and i was really...

frustrated and just... flabbergasted, i guess. security. peace of mind. protection. that's what lifelock provides. to this day we don't know the dama... that's been done to his credit. now we gotta go get my credit fixed... and get it back to where it's just nothing. i was told that i could write a letter... to the credit reporting bureau, or to write it to all three, 'cause some get it reported, some don't. the one thing i would tell you is take action. learn what you can do for yourself for free, or look at a service, in detail, like lifelock, who can be there for you, put that frontline of defense, and have a $1 million guarantee. parents need to realize that this can happen to you. it's my identity, and i don't like people... messing with my stuff. protect yourself, your family, and all you've worked hard for. take control of your identity. protect yourself with lifelock's...

proactive protection and our $1 million... total service guarantee. security. peace of mind. protection. that's what lifelock provides. you can take control of your identity. call now for special savings and we'll also give you... 30 days to try lifelock absolutely free. call now and mention id. call now or go to lifelock.com. ♪ welcome back to "andrea mitchell reports" a special edition today from hyannis port, massachusetts. our veteran congressional correspondent joins us now from the white house. mike, let's talk about the role

ted kennedy played in the senate. you watched him over all these years. >> that's right, andrea. over the last 11 years, a familiar spot over by the russell center office building. his office was right on the third floor where all the television cameras are. we go there to do our live shots and reports. the sight of senator kennedy there with his portugese water dogs sunny and splash coming in and out of the office with his wife vicki, a very common sight there. that is going to be sorely missed by all of us. when you hang around the senate hallways and you spoke with senator kennedy himself over the years, one common theme you hear, andrea, i ran into alan simpson the other day in the senate, the former republican senator from wyoming. you remember that radio show on public radio called face-off where they'd go back and forth from the right and the left? all of that type, simpson and all of the contemporaries of senator kennedy's, all lamenting the past days of the senate when

there was cleenlg yaollegiality people worked together. and the question is how would that have changed the health care debate now in the senate? senator kennedy made it his life-long cause. they used to call it socialized medicine before that phrase became stigmatized and now the question here in washington is what could he have done and what will the debate be like without him now as we go into the fall and this debate about health care reform, andrea? >> that is indeed one of the first legislative questions at least after we get past this period of mourning. thank you very much. speaking of the hill, former senator bob kerry a long-time colleague of senator ted kennedy. you tried to run for president. you know what it's like to have run and not gotten past the new hampshire primary. how painful was the 1980 race for him? did he ever talk about what it felt like to lose to jimmy carter? >> no. i mean, one of the interesting

things about senator kennedy is how little he talked about himself. you probably remember, i do, anyway, when one of secretary kissinger's books came out, like a thousand pages and somebody quipped if he left out the pronoun "i" it would have been 200 pages. senator kennedy is one of the few people i knew who could survive without the pronoun "i." he didn't talk about himself much. he didn't really need to but he just didn't do it. and, you know, there was a humility and other values about, that he had, that made him likeable. and it's worth noting. he accomplished a tremendous amount. not because he was there for 46 years you about way he behaved for that 46 years.

you'll search in vain for a staffer who use today work for him who will say a bad word about him. everybody wanted to work for him. >> he had the best staff. they were so good. he was so strong. >> because he was so nice and good to them and respectful. he treated people well and it enabled him to accomplish a great deal. as ferocious as he was and partisan as he could be when arguing on a one on one basis with everyone that he interacted with, he was respectful and polite and considerate and concerned about what was going on in your life much more than he was concerned or would talk anyway about what was going on in his. >> senator bob kerrey now with the new school in new york city, thank you very much for joining us with your recollections and remembrances. it's remarkable to think that in fact only two senators in history, in american history, have served in the senate longer

than senator ted kennedy. we have three senators, michael bennett, mark prior who were born after he was elected to office almost 47 years ago. when we return we'll talk about his civil rights legacy, the legacy of the kennedy family and particularly of senator ted kennedy with the head of the naacp. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" a special version from hyannis port, massachusetts. or just one brita filter. ( drop plinks ) brita-- better for the environment and your wallet. brita-- better for the environment everyone's talking about them. and now we can actually do something about them. at wal-mart, their prices are unbeatable. over 300 prescriptions are just four dollars. four dollars. imagine that. capturing the beauty of nature.

that's vision. every day, transitions lenses are there to help care for my sight. announcer: transitions lenses adjust to changing light to reduce glare and help protect your eyes from uv mage so you can see better today... and tomorrow. live your vision. transitions. healthy sight in every light. for help finding your right pair of eyeglasses, just log onto eyeglasside.com and check out the new transitions eyeglass guide.

. call or click today. ♪

bicycle, what are we waiting for? the flowers are blooming. the air is sweet. and zyrtec® starts... relieving my allergies... 2 hours faster than claritin®. my worst symptoms feel better, indoors and outdoors. with zyrtec®, the fastest... 24-hour allergy medicine, i promise not to wait as long to go for our ride. zyrtec® works fast, so i can love the air™. join in this historic journey to have the courage to choose change. it's time again for a new generation of leadership. it is time now for barack obama. >> ted kennedy's last campaign,

that day in january at american university where his brother made the great nuclear test ban treaty speech. on that day he endorsed barack obama, a terrible blow for the clinton campaign. joining me now joe klein of "time" magazine. joe, you've already written so eloquently about that day in 1980 when you witnessed really the end of his presidential hopes. there might have been a chance four years later but back then he was challenging an incumbent president jimmy carter and you wrote today, i was with him that day. he was liberated from ambition. finally, it was february 26th, 1980, the day of the new hampshire henman. he was losing, an unimaginable event for a candidate, losing in new england. his campaign up to that point had been in fact dreadful. he had famously been unable to answer a simple question posed by roger mudded of cbs news, why do you want to be president? take us back to those days and of course to that really tense and emotional convention at

madison square garden when he gave one of the greatest speeches of his life and refused to hold up his hands with jimmy carter? >> andrea, i have to take you back beyond that. i knew the guy for 40 years. he was the first major politician i ever covered. and when i first met him, right after chappaquiddick, he was practically catatonic. he was an awkward political figure when he ran for re-election in massachusetts and also when he ran for president in 1980. you know, i was with him also the day that people threw tomatoes at him in boston city hall plaza because he was in favor of busing and his most beloved constituents, the mary celts from south boston were really angry with him. even then he was very, very clenched and i think that day when we landed in manchester, new hampshire, and, you know, an aide came up to him and told him he wasn't going to win and his reaction was, well, so much for

the well oiled kennedy machine. he almost seemed to change overnight after that. that night he gave this rip roaring, wonderful speech and he went on to give that fabulous speech at the democratic convention that you mentioned in 1980. from that point on then i think in many ways he began to focus on the senate and his legacy. >> exactly right. joe klein, your recollections from having covered him for 40 years. thank you very much for joining us. >> my pleasure. >> joe klein just mentioned the way that ted kennedy stood up for desegregation against his own constituents, the people during the height of the civil rights dispute and that brings me to the head of the naacp joining us from our washington bureau. ben, good to see you. talk about the impact that ted kennedy, as the heir to his family legacy, had on civil rights. >> he was huge. he was the voice of the

voiceless, the person who pushed through more civil rights bills than, you know -- he was our guy. and it's really quite a hard day. we're trying to figure out how you get through health care without him not just because you go from 60 to 59 but because he was that person who could reach right into the heart of a senator and change his mind, change his heart, change his vote. you know, i saw him do it for people behind bars. we were passing a bill several years ago called the prison rape act trying to ban prison rape and there's a photo in my office of him standing next to john ashcroft smiling, both of them smiling, knowing they're doing the right thing. when we started that march to pass this bill to end rape in u.s. prisons it started with ted kennedy knowing what the right thing was and john ashcroft

having no idea and he was just that kind of guy that's going to be a huge loss for all of us. >> well, ben, let's listen to ted kennedy talking about the inheritance, the desegregation movement from his brother, from his older brother, jack kennedy. >> my brother was the first president of the united states to state publicly that segregation was morally wrong. his heart and his soul are in this bill. his life and death had a meaning that we should not hate but love one another. we should use our powers not to create conditions of oppression that lead to violence but conditions of freedom that lead to peace. >> that, of course, was ted kennedy talking about the landmark civil rights bill in 1964 when the president was lyndon johnson and of course this was only a few months after

the dreadful assassination. ben, who is going to be the leader in the senate for all of these issues? can you see anyone on the horizon? >> you know, there are great people. there are folks like chuck schumer who are good on some bills, really champions, and speak for the middle class. there's just not going to be a ted kennedy again. we're going to have several people i think playing that role. he just didn't -- he stayed on the march for justice, you know, year after year after year. when he knew he'd have to step off of the judiciary he called me twice at home to assure me he would still be pushing from behind the scenes. you know, i think we'll have several people who have to follow after him. >> ben jealous of the naacp thank you very much for taking time to join us today. when we come back, we'll be talking to max bachus one of

senator kennedy's key allies, a major player on health care, the head of the finance committee. stay with us. once you've mastered the complexities of a headache... the rest of the body is a no brainer. doesn't your whole body deserve excedrin strength relief? excedrin back & body. excedrin. what ache?

what's in it for me? i'm not looking for a bailout, just a good paying job. that's why i like this clean energy idea. now that works for our whole family. for the kids, a better environment. for my wife, who commutes, no more gettin' jerked around on gas prices... and for me, well, it wouldn't be so bad if this breadwinner brought home a little more bread. repower america. i hope our senators are listening. great looking skin... it's in the dna. [ female announcer ] new regenerist dna cream with spf 25 doesn't just correct. it helps protect your dna without a $200 department store price tag. olay regenerist. it doesn't cover everything. and what it doesn't cover can cost you some money. that's why you should consider... an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan... insured by united healthcare insurance company. it can help cover some of what medicare doesn't... so you could save up to thousands of dollars...

in out-of-poet expenses. call now for this free information kit... and medicare guide. if you're turning 65 or you're already on medicare, you should know about this card; it's the only one of its kind... that carries the aarp name -- see if it's right for you. you choose your doctor. you choose your hospital. there are no networks and no referrals needed. help protect yourself from some of what medicare doesn't cover. save up to thousands of dollars... on potential out-of-pocket expenses... with an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan... insured by united healthcare insurance company. call now for your free information kit... and medicare guide and find out... how you could start saving.

the work goes on. the cause endures. the hope still lives. the dream shall never die. >> madison square garden, 1980, the democratic convention, ted kennedy had lost his bid to become the nominee and instead the incumbent, president jimmy carter, was the nominee that year and of course memorably lost to ronald reagan in a landslide. joining me now from the "boston globe", kevin, i know you've covered senator kennedy for years on many trips and in particular his initiatives in

northern ireland to bring peace to northern ireland, one of his great passions. you have a personal story about the way he helped a young boy who had been injured and his parents killed by u.s. troops in iraq. >> yeah, the boy's name was rakan hassan and he was 12 years old. his parents were killed. he was paralyzed by u.s. troops who mistook them for suicide bombers when they were racing home one night. it's a classic ted kennedy story and indicates why he was good at what he did. his office got a note from a constituent who was a postal worker, disabled postal worker saying that a woman who tried to help this kid was killed in baghdad and he asked ted kennedy to complete the mission. ted kennedy asked his personal physician to take over and try to get the boy out of there but more importantly ted kennedy

called donald rumsfeld who was then the defense secretary. i don't think they would agree on much including the time of day but on this one they worked together and they got the kid out of iraq and they brought him to boston at mass general hospital where dr. larry ronan oversaw his care and eventually dr. ronan and i returned to iraq with rakan because after his care he wanted to go back to what family was left. there were a lot of people here in boston that wanted to adopt him but he wanted to go home. and, unfortunately, last year at approximately this time we found out that rakan was killed. his family's house was hit by a bomb and he was killed. i wrote a piece on this saying how hard it was personally on dr. ronan and myself because we felt maybe we shouldn't have brought him back. maybe i shouldn't have written about him. but the next day that the story appeared goit a call at 8:00 in the morning and it was senator

kennedy and basically he said, don't beat yourself up. we gave that kid a couple good years. it was extremely moving. i remember saying, senator, shouldn't i be comforting you? because he was two months into his diagnose ats thying is at t he said i feel like a million bucks. >> kevin, a remarkable story. thanks for sharing that with us today. joining us on the phone, senator max bachus, a key ally on health care and health reform joining from us montana. senator, the dream that would never die included passing health reform. what is the likelihood of having that happen? you've been involved in all the key negotiations. >> ironically, i think the spirit and passion of ted's will be even stronger now. his passing is unfortunate but i

think that's the case. i've never known a more effective legislator. i think ted kennedy is the great aent most effective legislator in modern american times. he was so passionate and worked so hard, a gifted speaker but then he would sit down and work out an agreement and compromise. and realize, okay. there was two sides of this. let's figure out how to get this passed. and the personal touch. we all know personal stories of ted and a very small one in my case, i was home one night and my mother was there and ted and my mother got the into this long, wonderful conversation and pretty soon became good pen pals. ted would write thank you notes to people. in this internet age nobody writes thank you notes but ted did. it was amazing how many people he did touch.

add it all together and we're smiling that ted kennedy is such a wonderful, wonderful person and i think that the spirit of ted kennedy is going to help us get the health legislation passed. >> briefly, do you think in your negotiations you had a 90-minute call with your fellow six members of the gang of six, are you going to be able to produce something by the september 15th deadline the white house is expecting? >> well, we'll see. really, you know, today is ted kennedy's day. i just think it's best for all of us to just remember ted, the wonderful person he is and how we pass health care reform and what precise date, we'll work that out next week or two but right now i think it's important to just remember ted. >> of course. we will follow up with you. senator max baucus, thank you so much for joining us today. as we conclude our special

edition of "andrea mitchell reports" let's take a look at the legacy, the time, the extraordinary four decades of service of senator ted kennedy. ♪ sweet rosie o'grady my dear little rose she's my special lady most everyone knows ♪ for all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die. i feel change in the air! what about you? >> the spirit will never die. thank you for joining us today.

chuck todd takes up next and of course join us. brian williams will have a special hour-long edition of nbc nightly news. check local listings. tonight "hardball", "the kennedy brothers" hosted by chris matthews. i'm andrea mitchell reporting today from hyannis port. everyone's talking about them. and now we can actually do something about them. at wal-mart, their prices are unbeatable. over 300 prescriptions are just four dollars. four dollars. imagine that.

as we get older, our bodies become... less able to absorb calcium. he recommended citracal. it's a different kind of calcium. calcium citrate. with vitamin d... r unsurpassed absorption, to nourish your bones. my name is chef michael. and when i come home from my restaurant, i love showing bailey how special she is. yes, you are. i know exactly what you love, don't i? - [ barks ] - mmm. aromas like rotisserie chicken. and filet mignon. yeah, that's what inspired a very special dry dog food. [ woman ] introducing chef michael's canine creations. so tasty and nutritious it's hard to believe it's dry dog food. chef-inspired. dog-desired. chef michael's canine creations. we're shopping for car insurance, and our friends said we should start here. good friends -- we compare our progressive direct rates, apples to apples, against other top companies, to help you get the best price. how do you do that?

with a touch of this button. [ chuckles ] wow! good luck getting your remote back. it's all right -- i love this channel. shopping less and saving more. now, that's progressive. call or click today. finally, good news for people with type 2 diabetes or at risk for diabetes. introducing new nutrisystem d, the clinically tested program for losing weight and reducing blood sugar. hi i'm mike, and i lost 100 pounds on nutrisystem d when i was first diagnosed with diabetes, that first step was more like a giant leap. till i discovered nutrisystem d. in a clinical study people on nutrisystem d lost 16 times more weight and reduced their blood sugar 5 times more than those on a hospital-directed plan. plus a1c was reduced .9%. choose from over 140 menu options, there is no counting carbs, calories or points. i lost 100 lbs. and lowered my blood sugar level. nutrisystem d changed my life.