Endorsing Barack Obama was something of a last will and testament for Ted, who saw the same ideals in the senator as he did in the Kennedys from Wexford

All his life Ted Kennedy was running faster to catch up with a family that defined political dynasty and a name that became a synonym for political assassination.

Fighting for his life in a modern hospital in Boston yesterday prompted flashbacks to his two brothers who lost their battles in Dallas and Los Angeles.

Ted Kennedy had a glittering 46-year career in the US Senate and grew old in office.

But he was always following John and Bobby whose death had suspended them near the summit of their lives.

For two generations Ted shone as a beacon of old liberal values in the US Senate, but it was always in the shadow of his slain brothers.

His passing will leave an enormous void in a US where a neocon philosophy all but eclipsed his apparently old-fashioned principles.

One of his last major public acts was to endorse Barack Obama for president, the young African-American who is now favourite to become the Democratic party's candidate.

Being a great and conspicuous friend of Ireland in the United States was as much a part of the Kennedy family tradition as playing ferociously competitive football.

And Ted Kennedy took up the banner and was a great friend of this country through more than 30 years of civic strife.

From 1969, every Irish government sought his guidance, help and support. And he was always there to give wise counsel and active support.

John Hume and the beleaguered nationalists in Northern Ireland beat a pathway to his door. And he managed to walk that vertiginous tightrope between constitutionalism and militant activism without losing his balance.

Ted Kennedy was always conscious of his Irish heritage, proud of that visit by his brother, President John F Kennedy, who visited the family homestead in Wexford 45 years ago next month.

His sister Jean Kennedy Smith, who Bill Clinton appointed US ambassador to Ireland, hopes to visit New Ross next month for the anniversary.

Of course, Ted made many unannounced and private visits to Ireland and spent many a day and long night celebrating the craic with Chris Dodd and other Irish-American pals.

He was an occasional visitor to Irish bars in New York too, and spent many a night in the late Tommy Makem's pub on New York's 57th Street.

But all the publicity about his occasionally colourful private life sometimes overshadowed the work he did for the Irish on Capitol Hill in Washington.

He was a very influential Senator, sitting on the Labour and Human Resources committee, the Judiciary sub-committee that looked after immigration and refugee affairs, the Armed Services committee and the Joint Economic committee.

He either chaired or attended some 200 meetings a year, which for all their importance can be stultifying, and belies his playboy reputation.

He steered legislation that ensured civil rights for the less fortunate, increased the minimum wage in 1981, made access to healthcare easier for the poor, funded meals-on-wheels for pensioners.

Ted Kennedy was a standard bearer of liberalism in an age dominated by conservatives such as Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George W Bush.

Three months after his brother Bobby was assassinated in 1969, Kennedy attended a party in Chappaquiddick and gave a lift to Mary Jo Kopechne who died when his car skidded off a bridge.

The ensuing scandal put paid to his own presidential ambitions, although he did challenge his own party's sitting president, Jimmy Carter, in 1980.

When he was asked: "Why do you want to be president?" by CBS's Roger Mudd, Ted Kennedy dithered.

Profile

In the 1980s, he was described in a critical profile as someone who "grew to manhood without learning to be an adult" as his private life was plagued by scandal.

After his divorce and remarriage, he spent the 1990s living down his hell-raising days by toiling long and hard.

In 2001, Ted Kennedy worked with president George W Bush to enact the No Child Left Behind Act. Though later he complained he had been tricked because the legislation did not include funding to pay for it.

He looked unhealthy in recent years but Ted Kennedy never eased up on his punishing work rate.

And in 2003 he voted against the invasion of Iraq and said: "There was no imminent threat. This was made up in Texas, announced to the Republican leadership that war was going to take place and was going to be good politically. This whole thing was a fraud."

More recently, his endorsement of Barack Obama was a devastating blow to Hillary Clinton, a colleague and long time friend of the Kennedy family.

Ted Kennedy's huge following with hispanics was also a great help to Obama.

Endorsing Obama was something of a political last will and testament for Ted Kennedy who saw the same ideals in the African American Senator as he did in the Kennedys from Wexford.

- SAM SMYTH