Democrats seek to avoid politics at Kennedy memorial

BOSTON (Reuters) - Senator Edward Kennedy's Democratic party sought to avoid turning his memorial events into a liberal political rally and to guarantee instead a solemn tribute to the fallen statesman.

Republicans and Democrats were coming together at a private memorial service on Friday to honor Kennedy, the standard-bearer for liberal Democrats who championed causes from civil rights, immigration and healthcare to the end of apartheid in South Africa, opposition to the war in Iraq and peace in Ireland.

The senator's body lay in repose in Boston where members of the extensive Irish-American Kennedy clan greeted the more than 30,000 people who came to pay their respects. Preparations were under way for a private burial on Saturday near the graves of his slain brothers President John Kennedy and Senator Robert Kennedy at Arlington National Cemetery outside Washington.

Kennedy, a senator from Massachusetts for 47 years, died late Tuesday of brain cancer. He was 77.

President Barack Obama was to give a eulogy on Saturday during a funeral Mass at a Roman Catholic basilica in Boston, and aides promised Obama would not use the occasion to rally support for healthcare reform, Obama's top domestic priority and an issue Kennedy called "the cause of my life."

Lawmakers felt keenly the absence of Kennedy during his illness as they and Obama struggled to overhaul the $2.5 trillion U.S. health care system in which nearly 46 million people go uninsured. A consummate deal-maker, they said he would have been uniquely able to win the issue, now beset by fractious debate across the country.

Talk show host Rush Limbaugh, one of the most influential voices on the U.S. right wing, predicted Democrats would politicize Kennedy's death.

"They can't help themselves because this is their religion," Limbaugh said on his national radio show. "This, liberalism, is their religion, and they are burying their pope."

But the White House had already sought to end speculation that Obama would link Kennedy's death to the healthcare debate.

"Our country lost a beloved leader and the politics and implications of that are the last thing on the president's mind right now," Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton told a news briefing on Thursday. "This is going to be a very personal statement that he makes on Saturday."

FORMER PRESIDENTS TO ATTEND

While Kennedy was considered an historic figure and was well-liked by his Senate colleagues, "most Republicans and conservatives still see him as the 'liberal lion,'" said Thomas Mann of The Brookings Institution.

"It's not as if he's this unifying, tremendously popular figure in the country. He's not," Mann said.

Three of the four living ex-U.S. presidents -- Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush -- were also expected to attend. Former President George H. W. Bush, 85, was said to be unable to travel.

The Friday service was to bring together family members and longtime close friends such as former Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain, who lost in 2008 to Obama, Republican Senator Orrin Hatch and Democrats Vice President Joe Biden and senators Christopher Dodd and John Kerry.
Democrats worked this week to find a way to fill the senator's seat quickly, thus ensuring the votes needed to overcome Republican objections to a healthcare vote this year.

Kennedy requested Massachusetts lawmakers allow Governor Deval Patrick to name a temporary replacement to serve in his vacant Senate seat before a special election was to be held early next year.

McCain, who had worked many years with Kennedy to reach consensus on controversial legislation, said on CNN's Larry King Live on Thursday Kennedy's wife Victoria had asked him to speak. "And I told her I would move heaven and Earth, I would be there. And so I'm very honored to -- to have the opportunity to say a few words on behalf of the last lion of the Senate."