Edward Kennedy

Speaker Michael Busch (D-Annnapolis)DENVER – It is the third day of the Democratic National Committee Convention, but the plane carrying state House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Annapolis) only touched down this afternoon.

“I’m excited about being on the floor tonight,” he told PolitickerMD.com, shortly after arriving.

Though Busch has been tuned into the convention via television, and said he was impressed by U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy’s Monday address.

In a statement this morning, Maryland GOP chairman Jim Pelura knocked Democratic Party leaders and invited their rank and file followers to cross the aisle.

Gov. Martin O'Malley (D): Campaign PhotoDENVER - Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) cheers U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) during his surprise speech during the first night of the Democratic National Committee Convention at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado.

When Sen. Ted Kennedy received his grim diagnosis of a brain tumor last May, Sen. Barbara Mikulski promised to be "ringside" for anything he needed. Turned out he needed an extra hand in the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which he chairs and Democratic Senators Chris Dodd, Tom Harkin and Mikulski are next in seniority.

If you do not hear the latest Orrin Hatch tune at the Democratic National Committee Convention, he wants you to know who to blame.

With Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) undergoing surgery today and spending the week in recovery, his Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee colleagues Barbara Mikulski and Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) will help shepherd bills on mental health parity and higher education.

"Senator Kennedy turned to them because he didn't want his absence to slow progress just as these bills are nearing completion,” a Kennedy aide told The Hill last week.

Among the many gifts received by Sen. Ted Kennedy this week were some bagels and cream cheese from his friend and ally Sen. Barbara Mikulski.

It was a touching moment when West Virginia icon Robert Byrd broke down in tears on the Senate floor, lamenting the diagnosis of his friend, Sen. Ted Kennedy.

But relations were not so close a few decades ago, when Byrd managed to oust the Massachusetts Senator from his Senate leadership position in the Democratic Caucus in 1971, in part because of Kennedy losing a Maryland ally.

With major business pending before it, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee that U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) chairs will need someone to take the reins during his medical absence.

But because it is customary that a senator chair no more than one committee at a time, Politico reports that the chairmanship may very well fall to fourth-in-line member, U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Baltimore).

A conference committee on an overhaul of the Higher Education Act is currently postponed, while a bill on electronic medical records is nearing completion.

The second and third majority members of the committee, Sens. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), chair the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee and Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee, respectively.

Mikulski would likely keep her seat on the Appropriations Committee as well.

Mikulski & Kennedy: In 1987

Cardin Reacts To Mass. Senator's Tumor

This afternoon, Senators Barbara Mikulski and Ben Cardin issued reactions to Sen. Ted Kennedy's diagnosis of a malignant brain tumor, announced earlier this morning.

Mikulski and Kennedy have been close colleagues for more than two decades, serving together on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which Kennedy chairs.

In a statement, Mikuslki called the "wrenching" news "like a punch in the heart."

Senator Kennedy is one of my oldest friends in Congress. He's always been there when I needed him - I'm there for him now. No one knows how to fight harder and with more determination than Ted Kennedy. I know he will fight and beat this diagnosis. He can count on me to be at ringside with support, prayers and that smile of encouragement he always gives everyone else. My heart is with Teddy, Vicki and the Kennedy family as they rally behind him on his road to recovery.