Kennedy awaits results on seizure

Senator Edward Kennedy awaits the results of hospital tests

Senator Edward Kennedy is awaiting test results that could explain why the 76-year-old suffered a seizure.

Doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital said it would be Monday at the earliest before the tests were complete.

Democrat senator Mr Kennedy was resting, eating and watching the Boston Red Sox and Boston Celtics games on television on Sunday, said a top aide.

Among his visitors were his wife Vicki, sister Jean Kennedy Smith, stepchildren Caroline and Curran Raclin, daughter Kara Kennedy as well as nephew Joseph Kennedy and his wife.

Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama also called. "People are still concerned with figuring out exactly what happened. I'm just thrilled that he is back on the mend and I suspect will be on the floor of the Senate immediately," Mr Obama told reporters outside a restaurant in Milwaukie, Oregon.

"There's not a better senator or better friend or better supporter than Ted Kennedy and I'm just relieved that he's feeling better."

Mr Kennedy was flown to Massachusetts General on Saturday morning from the emergency room of Cape Cod Hospital, near his home in Hyannisport, Massachusetts.

Doctors originally suspected he had suffered a stroke, but his physician, Dr Larry Ronan, later said it had been a seizure and that the senator was "not in any immediate danger".

In October, Mr Kennedy had surgery to remove a blockage in his left carotid artery, which supplies blood to the face and brain. After the surgery, he resumed his busy schedule on Capitol Hill and across Massachusetts.

Mr Kennedy is the second-longest serving member of the Senate and a dominant figure in national Democratic Party politics. He was elected in 1962, filling out the term won by his brother, John F Kennedy, who was elected president in 1960.