Bennie Thompson on Kennedy

AP - Kennedy's civil rights work remembered in Mississippi

U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said in an e-mailed statement that he was the Mississippi co-chair for Kennedy's 1980 presidential bid. Thompson first met Kennedy when he was a student at Tougaloo College.

"Over the years, our staffs collaborated on a number of issues ranging from health care to education," Thompson said. "The legacy of Sen. Edward Kennedy will without question live on, and I think the first act will be through Congress passing health insurance reform legislation."