Sen. Kennedy goes home after cancer diagnosis

By Scott Malone

BOSTON (Reuters) - Sen. Edward Kennedy, an elder statesman of U.S. liberal politics and brother of slain President John Kennedy, was released from hospital on Wednesday after being diagnosed with a deadly brain tumour.

Kennedy, 76, waved to sympathizers, embraced family members and greeted his two dogs as he left Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston before returning to his family's Cape Cod vacation home where he suffered a seizure on Saturday.

"I'm doing well, glad to be back home," the white-haired patriarch of America's most storied political family told reporters after arriving at his home in Hyannisport on Cape Cod, dressed in a blue sport coat and open-necked shirt.

Kennedy was diagnosed on Tuesday with a malignant glioma, a type of tumour that kills half its victims within a year. Patients rarely survive more than three years. Even surgery cannot cure such a tumour, doctors agree.

His wife Victoria, his son Rep. Patrick Kennedy of neighbouring Rhode Island and his niece Caroline Kennedy accompanied him as he emerged from the hospital.

Kennedy's illness will not threaten the balance of power in the closely divided U.S. Senate, now held by his Democratic party, 51-49.

Should he be unable to continue to serve, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick would call a special election between 145 and 160 days after the vacancy of his seat becomes official.

The prospect of his incapacitation as he undergoes planned chemotherapy has sparked inevitable speculation over who might succeed the second-longest serving current senator, and whether a new generation of Kennedys is poised to emerge from his shadow to continue the family legacy.