Ted Kennedy's legislative highlights

I don't know what to say about the Senator's prognosis and his life, so I've just copied this dry piece from The Boston Globe:

1965: Immigration
In his first major legislative accomplishment, the 32-year-old Kennedy managed the successful floor battle to pass the Hart-Celler Act, a reform of immigration policy that abolished quotas and lifted a 1924 ban on immigration from Asia.

1971: Cancer
After rising to the position of majority whip in 1969, which made him the third-ranking Senate Democrat, Kennedy and Representative Paul G. Rogers, a Democrat of Florida, passed legislation establishing a federal cancer research program in 1971 that quadrupled the amount spent fighting cancer.

1972: Women's sports
Kennedy was a key Senate backer of Title IX, a 1972 amendment to federal education law that helped spur the growth of women's college sports by requiring colleges and universities to provide equal funding for men's and women's athletics.

1974: Campaign finance
Joining with Senator Hugh Scott, Republican of Pennsylvania, Kennedy sponsored the sweeping overhaul of ethics rules after Watergate that imposed limits on contributions to political candidates and set up the public financing system for presidential candidates in 1974.

1983: MLK holiday
In the early 1980s, Kennedy teamed with civil rights leaders to urge the creation of the Martin Luther King Day holiday, which was eventually approved by overwhelming margins in both Houses and approved by President Ronald Reagan in 1983.

1986: Anti-apartheid
After Reagan vetoed economic sanctions against the apartheid government of South Africa in 1986, Kennedy spearheaded the bipartisan effort in both Houses to override the veto. The law banned the purchase of gold, coal, iron, and other goods from South Africa.

1990: Family leave
Kennedy and Chris Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut, authored the Family and Medical Leave Act in 1990. The law required businesses to provide unpaid leave in the case of family emergencies or after the birth of infants, and was signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1993.

1993: Student loans
In response to concerns that students were getting bad deals from private lenders, Kennedy sponsored a Department of Education program in 1993 that allowed students to borrow directly from the federal government instead.

1996: Healthcare
Kennedy joined with Senator Nancy Kassebaum, Republican of Kansas, in 1996 to pass the Kennedy-Kassebaum Act, which allowed employees to keep health insurance after leaving their job and prohibited health insurance companies from refusing to renew coverage on the basis of preexisting medical conditions.

1996: Minimum wage
Kennedy was the lead Senate sponsor of legislation increasing the minimum wage from $4.25 to $5.15. He reprised this role in 2007, after Democrats retook Congress, quarterbacking the effort to raise the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 by 2009.

2001: Education
Over the objections of some fellow Democrats, Kennedy helped pass President Bush's No Child Left Behind Act in 2001, a sweeping law that required more rigorous testing of public school students and makes it easier for parents to transfer their children from low-performing schools.

© Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company.

Why is Hillary still running?

This is a response to a thoughtful post from Robert Reich.
http://robertreich.blogspot.com/2008/05/why-is-hrc-hanging-in-there.html
I choose option 2

2. She wants to establish herself for a 2012 run, if Obama loses to McCain or if Obama proves to be such an unpopular president that the Democrats look for another standard-bearer.

She's not "trying to destroy the party" or grind an axe against Obama. She's giving herself 'fighter' credentials for the next presidential round, be it in 2012 or 2016. Next month she will publicly endorse Obama and then actively campaign on his behalf. This will eliminate most of the chatter that she's out to tear down the party and will go a long way to solidfying the Dem base. It will not help Obama with the ignorant center (see below for what the hell I'm talking about), but it will boost her standing with the hardcore Dems like me.