U.S. Sen Edward Kennedy hospitalized

BOSTON (Reuters) - U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy, a leadingDemocrat and patriarch of a prominent American politicaldynasty, has hospitalized in Boston, a spokesman for a hospitalin Cape Cod said.

Kennedy, 76, was rushed from the Kennedy compound atHyannisport, Massachusetts, to Cape Cod Hospital at 9 a.m.(1300 GMT), a hospital spokesman told Reuters.

He was then airlifted to a Boston hospital, the spokesmansaid.

CNN reported Kennedy was taken to Massachusetts GeneralHospital with symptoms of a stroke, citing a prominent stateDemocrat it did not identify.

The long-serving Massachusetts senator is a leading liberalvoice in the United States and has actively campaigned forBarack Obama in his bid for the Democratic presidentialnomination.

Kennedy had preventive surgery at Boston's MassachusettsGeneral Hospital in October to unclog a partially blockedcarotid artery in his neck.

The blockage was discovered during a routine check ofKennedy's back and spine, doctors said. A blocked carotidartery can lead to a stroke and death, they said.

Kennedy has suffered from back problems since a plane crashin 1964 in which the pilot and one of Kennedy's aides werekilled and the senator was pulled from the wreckage with a backinjury, punctured lung, broken ribs and internal bleeding.

The youngest brother of assassinated U.S. President John F.Kennedy, Kennedy was elected to the Senate in 1962 andcurrently serves as chairman of the Senate Committee on Health,Education, Labour and Pensions. He ran for the presidency in1980.

He helped win an increase in the national minimum wage thisyear and worked with Republicans to produce broad immigrationreform, which failed in the Senate after stiff opposition fromconservative Republicans.

(Writing by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Jackie Frank)