Projo Politics Blog

DENVER -- U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy is in Denver on the first day of his party's national convention.

The Massachusetts senator is battling brain cancer and hadn't been expected to attend the convention. But two Democratic officials said he landed in Denver late Sunday night.

Kennedy had planned to stay home during the convention because of his illness. Delegates were to watch a video that he taped instead of hearing him speak in person.

But the beloved figure in the Democratic Party now is likely to make an appearance at the Pepsi Center later Monday, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because no announcement had been made.

On the DNC's Web site this morning, a tribute to Senator Kennedy is listed, to be be made by his niece, Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, daughter of the slain President John F. Kennedy Jr.

Kennedy, of course, is not only JFK's brother, but the father of Rhode Island's Rep. Patrick Kennedy.

Yesterday, Patrick Kennedy told Journal reporter John E. Mulligan that his father's decision will be as much medical as political because his doctors are closely monitoring the possibility that his cancer treatments have left him susceptible to other illnesses.

Another member of the Kennedy political clan has already been highly visible in Colorado. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., one of Sen. Kennedy's nephews who has made a name on the environmental front, spoke yesterday before a caucus of the National Education Association and at the Green Sunday At Red Rocks Democratic National Convention welcoming concert in Morrison, Colo.

-- Associated Press, with projo.com reports

 Tags  Democratic Convention DNC schedule Sen. Ted Kennedy

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