His family announced his death in a brief statement released early Wednesday.

“We’ve lost the irreplaceable center of our family and joyous light in our lives, but the inspiration of his faith, optimism, and perseverance will live on in our hearts forever,” the statement said. “We thank everyone who gave him care and support over this last year, and everyone who stood with him for so many years in his tireless march for progress toward justice, fairness and opportunity for all.”

Kennedy was elected to the Senate in 1962, when his brother John was president, and served longer than all but two senators in history. Over the decades, he put his imprint on every major piece of social legislation to clear the Congress.

His own hopes of reaching the White House were damaged — perhaps doomed — in 1969 by the scandal that came to be known as Chappaquiddick, an auto accident that left a young woman dead.

Kennedy — known to family, friends and foes simply as Ted — ended his quest for the presidency in 1980 with a stirring valedictory that echoed across the decades: “For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dream shall never die.”

The third-longest-serving senator in U.S. history, Kennedy was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor in May 2008 and underwent surgery and a grueling regimen of radiation and chemotherapy.

His death late Tuesday comes just weeks after that of his sister Eunice Kennedy Shriver on Aug. 11.

In a recent interview with The Associated Press, Kennedy’s son Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., said his father had defied the predictions of doctors by surviving more than a year with his fight against brain cancer.

The younger Kennedy said that gave family members a surprise blessing, as they were able to spend more time with the senator and to tell him how much he had meant to their lives.

The younger Kennedy said his father’s legacy was built largely in the Senate.

“He has authored more pieces of major legislation than any other United States senator,” Patrick Kennedy said in the interview. “He is the penultimate senator. I don’t need to exaggerate when I talk about my father. That’s the amazing thing. He breaks all the records himself.”

Excerpts from Kennedy speeches:

For me, a few hours ago, this campaign came to an end. For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die.

– Addressing Democratic National Convention, August 1980.

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My brother need not be idealized or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life, to be remembered as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it.

Those of us who loved him and who take him to his rest today, pray that what he was to us and what he wished for others will some day come to pass for all the world.

–Eulogy for Robert F. Kennedy, June 1968.

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With Barack Obama, we will turn the page on the old politics of misrepresentation and distortion. With Barack Obama we will close the book on the old politics of race against race, gender against gender, ethnic group against ethnic group, and straight against gay.

– Endorsing Sen. Barack Obama for president, January 2008.

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The more our feelings diverge, the more deeply felt they are, the greater is our obligation to grant the sincerity and essential decency of our fellow citizens on the other side. …

In short, I hope for an America where neither “fundamentalist” nor “humanist” will be a dirty word, but a fair description of the different ways in which people of good will look at life and into their own souls.

I hope for an America where no president, no public official, no individual will ever be deemed a greater or lesser American because of religious doubt — or religious belief.

I hope for an America where the power of faith will always burn brightly, but where no modern inquisition of any kind will ever light the fires of fear, coercion, or angry division.

I hope for an America where we can all contend freely and vigorously, but where we will treasure and guard those standards of civility which alone make this nation safe for both democracy and diversity.

– Speech on “Truth and Tolerance in America,” Oct. 3, 1983, Lynchburg, Va.

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Although my doctors informed me that I suffered a cerebral concussion, as well as shock, I do not seek to escape responsibility for my actions by placing the blame either on the physical and emotional trauma brought on by the accident, or on anyone else. I regard as indefensible the fact that I did not report the accident to the police immediately. …

It has been seven years since my first election to the Senate. You and I share many memories — some of them have been glorious, some have been very sad. The opportunity to work with you and serve Massachusetts has made my life worthwhile.

And so I ask you tonight, the people of Massachusetts, to think this through with me. In facing this decision (whether to resign), I seek your advice and opinion. In making it, I seek your prayers — for this is a decision that I will have finally to make on my own.

– Statement to the People of Massachusetts on Chappaquiddick, July 25, 1969.

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The great adventures which our opponents offer is a voyage into the past. Progress is our heritage, not theirs. What is right for us as Democrats is also the right way for Democrats to win.

The commitment I seek is not to outworn views but to old values that will never wear out. Programs may sometimes become obsolete, but the ideal of fairness always endures. Circumstances may change, but the work of compassion must continue. It is surely correct that we cannot solve problems by throwing money at them, but it is also correct that we dare not throw out our national problems onto a scrap heap of inattention and indifference. The poor may be out of political fashion, but they are not without human needs. The middle class may be angry, but they have not lost the dream that all Americans can advance together.

The demand of our people in 1980 is not for smaller government or bigger government but for better government. Some say that government is always bad and that spending for basic social programs is the root of our economic evils. But we reply: The present inflation and recession cost our economy 200 billion dollars a year. We reply: Inflation and unemployment are the biggest spenders of all.

– Address to the Democratic National Convention, August 1980.

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I was down at the White House this afternoon with some suggestions for the State of the Union address, but all I got from him was, “Are you still using that greasy kid stuff on your hair?”

– Joking about his relationship with President John F. Kennedy shortly after joining the Senate.

“This is democracy,” said Karfia Abbasi, holding up a thumb stained with purple ink to prove she had voted.

But polls were largely deserted throughout the day in many cities of the Sunni Triangle north and west of the capital, particularly Fallujah, Ramadi and Beiji. In Baghdad’s mainly Sunni Arab area of Azamiyah, the neighborhood’s four polling centers did not open at all, residents said. In Samarra, north of Baghdad, stations were empty for hours, but later hundreds of people showed up.

Several hundred people turned out to vote in eastern districts of the heavily Sunni city of Mosul — Iraq’s third largest city and a center for insurgent violence in past months. But in western parts of Mosul, clashes erupted between guerrillas and Iraqi soldiers.

A low Sunni turnout could undermine the new government and worsen tensions among the country’s ethnic, religious and cultural groups.

Officials said turnout appeared higher than expected, although it was too soon to tell for sure. A few hours before polls closed at 5 p.m., one Iraqi official, Adel al-Lami of the Independent Electoral Commission, said 72 percent of the 14 million eligible voters cast ballots but offered no overall figure of the number who participated.

Insurgent attacks started within two hours of the balloting’s start, and over the day Baghdad saw eight suicide attacks, mostly against polling sites, using bombers on foot with explosives strapped to their bodies since private cars were banned from the streets.

In one of the deadliest attacks of the day, a bomber got onto a minibus carrying voters to the polls in Hillah, south of Baghdad, and detonated his explosives, killing himself and at least four other people, the Polish military said.

Deadly mortar volleys hit Baghdad’s Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City and struck voters at several sites in Balad, and Kirkuk in the north and Mahawil south of the capital. Across the country, at least 35 people and nine suicide bombers were killed.

A Web site statement purportedly from Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s group claimed responsibility for election-day attacks, although the claim could not be verified. The Jordanian militant, whose group is allied with al-Qaida, is said to be behind many of the suicide car-bombings, kidnappings and beheadings of foreigners in Iraq, and his group vowed to kill those who ventured out to vote.

Shiite Muslims, estimated at 60 percent of Iraq’s 26 million people, were expected to turn out in large numbers, encouraged by clerics who hope their community will gain power after generations of oppression by the Sunni minority.

The election will create a 275-member National Assembly and 18 provincial legislatures. The assembly will draw up the country’s permanent constitution and will select a president and two deputy presidents, who in turn will name a new prime minister and Cabinet to serve for 11 months until new elections are held.

Casting his vote, Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi called it “the first time the Iraqis will determine their destiny.”

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the election was “not perfect” but was “going better than expected.”

“What we’re seeing here is the voice of freedom,” she said on ABC’s “This Week.”

The election is a major test of President Bush’s goal of promoting democracy in the Middle East. If successful, it also could hasten the day when the United States brings home its 150,000 troops. More than 1,400 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, including a Marine killed in combat Sunday in Iraq’s restive Anbar province.

Voter turnout was brisk in Shiite Muslim and mixed Shiite-Sunni neighborhoods of Baghdad, and U.S. officials said some stations ran out of ballots. Even in the small town of Askan in the so-called “triangle of death” south of Baghdad, 20 people waited in line at each of several polling centers. More walked toward the polls.

Rumors of impending violence were rife. When an unexplained boom sounded near one Baghdad voting station, some women put their hands to their mouths and whispered prayers. Others continued walking calmly to the voting stations. Several shouted in unison: “We have no fear.”

“Am I scared? Of course I’m not scared. This is my country,” said 50-year-old Fathiya Mohammed, wearing a head-to-toe abaya cloak.

At one polling place in Baghdad, soldiers and voters joined hands in a dance, and in Baqouba, voters jumped and clapped to celebrate the historic day. At another, an Iraqi policeman in a black ski mask tucked his assault rifle under one arm and took the hand of an elderly blind woman, guiding her to the polls.

In Ramadi, U.S. troops tried to coax voters with loudspeakers, preaching the importance of every ballot. The governor of the mostly Sunni province of Salaheddin, Hamad Hmoud Shagti, went on the radio to lobby for a higher turnout. “This is a chance for you as Iraqis to assure your and your children’s future,” he said.

Security was tight. About 300,000 Iraqi and American troops were on the streets and on standby to protect voters, who entered polling stations under loops of razor wire and the watchful eye of rooftop sharpshooters.

Final results of the election will not be known for seven to 10 days, but a preliminary tally could come as early as late Sunday.

A ticket endorsed by the country’s leading Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, is expected to fare best among the 111 candidate lists. However, no faction is expected to win an outright majority, meaning possibly weeks of political deal-making before a new prime minister is chosen.

The elections will also give Kurds a chance to gain more influence in Iraq after long years of marginalization under the Baath Party that ruled the country for 34 years.

“This proves that we are now free,” said Akar Azad, 19, who came to the polls with his wife Serwin Suker and sister Bigat. In addition to the assembly and provincial votes, Kurds are also choosing a regional parliament for their zone of northern Iraq.

Iraqis in 14 nations also held the last of three days of overseas balloting on Sunday, with officials in Australia extending polling station hours because of an earlier riot and bomb scare.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan called Sunday’s balloting “the first step” toward democracy. “It’s a beginning, not an end,” he said.

The chief U.N. adviser to Iraq’s election commission, Carlos Valenzuela, also said turnout seemed to be good in most places.

“These attacks have not stopped the operations,” Valenzuela said.

Asked if reports of better-than-expected turnout in areas where Sunni and Shiite Muslims live together indicated that a Sunni cleric boycott effort had failed, one of the main groups pushing the boycott seemed to soften its stance.

“The association’s call for a boycott of the election was not a fatwa (religious edict), but only a statement,” said Association of Muslim Scholars spokesman Omar Ragheb. “It was never a question of something religiously prohibited or permitted.”

The show debuts Saturday night and already is drawing mixed reviews.

Philip Pun, a 40-year-old insurance company manager, voiced reservations to an Associated Press reporter.

“Chinese culture is relatively conservative,” Pun said.

Denny Wu, a 45-year-old construction materials salesman, said news and sex shouldn’t be mixed.

“Shows that provide information should be more traditional,” Wu said. “It’s OK to try for a relaxing atmosphere, but this has lewd intentions.”

Secondary school student Tommy Ng, 18, was enthusiastic.

“I’d watch it,” he said with a sheepish smile. Then he quickly added: “Only secretly.’