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The hearing continued for two hours, until the wall buzzer sounded and the stars on the clock lit up, signaling a roll call vote on the Senate floor. Kennedy recessed the hearing and walked briskly down the long corridor, with Secret Service agents brushing aside people ahead of him. Photographers, TV crews and aides carrying briefing books followed close behind. But Kennedy shed most of them at the private elevator for Senators.
On the Senate floor, Kennedy did not join in the debate, though he is a master at it, acting solemn one moment and laughing at himself the next. (One afternoon, he thundered at Republican Orrin Hatch of Utah, "No, I will not yield, sir," and made a great show of being enraged.
When the exchange was over, he drifted toward Hatch's desk and good-naturedly bantered with him for a few minutes.) This day, Kennedy merely cast his vote, for emergency financial aid to help the poor and elderly pay their energy bills. He then returned to his office for more work on pending legislation, until it was time to go home, at 7:30 p.m. As usual, he did not leave the Dirksen building for lunch. His fare: soup and a salad with low-calorie dressing, in keeping with the diet that holds his 6-ft. 1-in. frame down to 205 Ibs., 20 Ibs. lower than last February. Dieting does not come easily. Kennedy has been known to search his staffers' desks for peanuts and crackers. Ethel Kennedy says he can describe a meal with so much gusto that "you feel you've eaten it yourself."
Two or three evenings a week, Kennedy holds staff meetings at his home.
Otherwise, unless he has to appear at a political function, he almost always stays home with Son Patrick, 12. Daughter Kara, 19, is a sophomore at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn.; Son Edward Jr., 18, is a freshman at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn.
TIME's Robert Ajemian recently joined Ted and Patrick for dinner at Kennedy's home. His report: he Senator stood in the bedroom, dressing for a night swim and needling Patrick about the cold pool waiting outside. Kennedy slipped off the canvas back brace he usually wears under his suit, put on his khaki trunks and flipped on a small color TV set. Suddenly Jimmy Carter's face appeared on the screen, speaking of politics and 1980. Kennedy, his arms folded and a hand at his mouth, watched intently, never moving. As Carter spoke, the son looked back and forth from the screen to his father's face. When Carter finished, Kennedy, still impassive, switched off the set and the two of them headed outdoors.