The late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) may not have been present as the Senate voted Saturday evening to move healthcare reform forward but he was clearly on his former colleagues' minds.Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) took a call from Kennedy's widow, Victoria, just minutes after the upper chamber held a crucial, party-line test vote on the healthcare reform bill. Reid appeared to break up slightly as he told reporters about the call.
"She called right after the vote. It was really -- I'll remember the call always. She, of course, was crying pretty hard and we both said Ted would be happy with this vote," Reid said. "We both felt that he was watching what took place tonight."
Democrats evoked Kennedy's name many times during the course of the debate Saturday especially when the man appointed to fill his seat, Sen. Ron Kirk, spoke on the floor in the middle of the afternoon.