The late Sen. Edward Kennedy was a denizen of Atlantic communities thousands of miles from here, but he worked closely with his Hawai'i colleagues in the Senate and had affinity for the concerns they brought to Capitol Hill.

Surely his legislative legacy means as much to the 50th state as any other. A place with such a diverse population as Hawai'i must list Kennedy, the last of a generation in this political clan, among its heroes.

The Civil Rights Act. Title IX reforms to support women's athletics. The Americans With Disabilities Act, Children's Health Insurance Program and immigration reform. These are among the landmark initiatives he influenced.

The 1969 Chappaquiddick accident, most notorious of Kennedy's personal scandals, tarnished his career and certainly extinguished any presidential ambitions. But ultimately his spot in the Senate may have positioned him precisely where he was best suited to deliver on his pledges of public service.

That's because Kennedy had the legislative skills needed to translate lofty ideals into action. Specifically, he knew when to hew to the core goals of any social program and when to compromise, in the hope that the middle ground might provide the most stable basis for long-term progress.

More to the point, the personable senator could persuade others to compromise, too.

Whether he could have brokered a peace in today's partisan standoff is uncertain at best. Health care reform, the primary aim of his career, was the one that repeatedly eluded him, his considerable talents notwithstanding.

The worst fear amid all the current rancor is that government has fallen into a chasm of dysfunction that even "the Lion of the Senate" couldn't have bridged. But this stalwart has navigated political storms before and, despite his own serious missteps, corrected course. If he were back at his post, Ted Kennedy likely would still soldier on.