The tributes to Sen. Ted Kennedy, who died late Tuesday of brain cancer, are pouring in from Wisconsin politicians.

Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Middleton, called the liberal Democrat from Massachusetts "one of the greatest senators in American history" and a hero throughout Feingold's political life.

Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Menomonee Falls, said that while he and Kennedy disagreed politically, Kennedy always kept his word and was a "master legislative craftsman." The two worked together to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act when Sensenbrenner was chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

One of my enduring memories as a reporter revolved around Kennedy.

It was October 1994, and President Bill Clinton had traveled to Massachusetts to sign an education bill and appear at a political rally for Kennedy, who was considered vulnerable for the first time in his career in the face of a tough challenge by Republican businessman Mitt Romney. Romney later went on to become the state's governor.

After the bill signing at a school in Framingham, a Boston suburb, I followed the motorcade the 20-some miles to downtown Boston for the rally and it was like being in a parade starring Kennedy.

All along the route through suburban Boston the neatly manicured lawns had Kennedy signs planted in them and residents lined the streets, cheering. The maple trees lining the streets had turned a bright gold. This scene went on for miles and miles and miles, and it helped me better understand his family's legacy.

At the time, the Democratic Congress was pretty unpopular and Kennedy's character was in question. It was his first re-election campaign after his nephew had been acquitted of rape charges. Kennedy had been drinking with his nephew in a bar on the night in question.

Kennedy defeated Romney that year by a 58-41 margin, his narrowest since winning a special election for the office in 1962.