BOSTON - Sen. Edward Kennedy suffered a seizure at his Cape Cod home Saturday morning but was recovering well enough by afternoon to watch a Red Sox game from his hospital room.
The 76-year-old Kennedy did not suffer a stroke, as was first feared, and doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital said he is not in any immediate danger.
"He's resting comfortably, and watching the Red Sox game with his family," said Dr. Larry Ronan, his primary care physician. "Over the next couple of days, Sen. Kennedy will undergo further evaluation to determine the cause of the seizure, and a course of treatment will be determined at that time."
On Saturday morning, Kennedy felt ill at his home in Hyannis Port and went to Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis. After a discussion with his doctors in Boston, the senator was flown by helicopter to Massachusetts General Hospital, where he wassoon joined by his wife Victoria, three of his children and his niece, Caroline Kennedy.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he spoke to Kennedy's wife in the afternoon and was told "his condition is not lifethreatening, but serious."
In October, Kennedy underwent surgery to remove a blockage in his left carotid artery, in part to prevent a stroke, which can be caused by the interruption of the flow of blood to the brain. The blockage was found as doctors were examining his back and neck, which were severely injured in an airplane crash in 1964. After the surgery, doctors recommended that he take aspirin to prevent blood clots. He was already on medication to control blood pressure and cholesterol.
Kennedy earlier this year endorsed Barack Obama for president, saying Obama offered America a chance for racial reconciliation and an opportunity to turn the page on the polarizing politics of the past several decades. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Obama's rival for the Democratic nomination, handily won the Massachusetts primary a week after the Kennedy endorsement was announced.
Kennedy has served in the Senate since 1962, when he won the seat that had been held by his older brother, President John F. Kennedy.
Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the likely Republican nominee, said: "I was very sorry to hear that Sen. Kennedy has taken ill, and like millions of Americans, Cindy and I anxiously await word of his condition."
Obama, campaigning in Oregon on Saturday, said he had been in contact with the Kennedy family. "We are going to be rooting for him," he said. "And I insist on being optimistic about how it is going to turn out."
Clinton said: "My thoughts and prayers are with Ted Kennedy and his family today. We all wish him well and a quick recovery." Information for this article was contributed by Glen Johnson, Lauran Neergaard, Matt Pitta and David Espo of The Associated Press and John M. Broder of The New York Times.
Front Section, Pages 6 on 05/18/2008