Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., takes the stage to address the Democratic National Convention in Denver at its opening session last night. “For me this is a season of hope,” said Kennedy, who is suffering from malignant cancer of the brain.

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AP / Charles Dharapak

DENVER — Sen. Edward M. Kennedy kicked off the Democratic National Convention on an emotional high note last night, battling grave illness to rally the faithful behind presidential candidate Barack Obama and declaring, “This November the torch will be passed again to a new generation of Americans.”

For Democratic delegates concerned about the closeness of Obama’s contest with Republican candidate John McCain, that echo of President John F. Kennedy’s words was a rousing reminder of how a coolly articulate senator in his 40s confounded the critics 48 years ago to defeat an older and more experienced foe.

“Yes we can,” Kennedy boomed, using Obama’s signature line, “and finally, yes we will.” But for many in the crowd, there was sadness and irony in the Massachusetts Democrat’s use of another Obama theme. “For me this is a season of hope,” said Kennedy, who was diagnosed last spring with malignant cancer of the brain.

Though he showed some hesitation in his gait, some puffiness in his face and, at a few points, some weakness in his voice, Kennedy was more than able for the task of calling on fellow Democrats to help send Obama to the White House to accomplish one of the enduring missions of Kennedy’s career –– a new national health care system.

“This is the cause of my life, new hope that we will break the old gridlock. That every American –– north, south, east, west, young, old — will have decent heath care,” Kennedy said.

Kennedy showed some of the old magic, his voice dripping with ridicule as he castigated those who criticize Obama’s hopeful agenda. When his brother called for sending an American to the moon, Kennedy said, he never lamented, “It’s too far!”

“This is what we do. We reach the moon, we scale the heights,” Kennedy said. “We can do it again.”

He said that when Obama is elected, “We will close the book on the old politics of race against race, and gender against gender, and group against group, and straight against gay,” he said.

Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy, the senator’s son, had ventured several weeks ago that “it might take a team of Clydesdale horses” to keep his father from making a dramatic appearance here. But until the last day or so, it was far from clear that Kennedy’s health would permit him to make the journey to Denver.

But the senator put it this way when he took the stage: “Nothing –– nothing –– is going to keep me away from this special gathering tonight.”

It was only seven months ago that Ted Kennedy, flanked by his niece Caroline and his son Patrick, bounded to the microphone on a stage in Washington to endorse Barack Obama with a grin and the shout, “I feel change in the air!” It was probably the most important political blessing Obama received in this campaign, coming at a moment when it was far from clear that his upset win in the Iowa precinct caucuses was the beginning of a long march to victory over another powerful Senate colleague, Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York.

The young crowd at American University erupted in wild cheers that winter day at Kennedy’s laughing allusion to the byword of the young Illinois senator’s campaign — “Change you can believe in.”

Last night the cheers of the delegates to Obama’s nominating convention were every bit as wild. But the moment felt much less like a joyful changing of the guard than the bittersweet end of an era. A twist of fate that could hardly have been imagined in January hung heavy in the air here last night: Kennedy is gravely, perhaps mortally ill.

Still, the senator and his family tended to the business of the convention last night, passing the torch to Obama.

Caroline Kennedy set the tone and sparked rousing cheers of anticipation that had been stoked by bulletins about the senator’s arrival in the convention city yesterday and the possibility that he would appear to rally the troops.

She took the stage to the strains of “Sweet Caroline,” and said in a soft, even voice, “I am here tonight to pay tribute to two men who have changed my life, and the life of this country — Barack Obama, and Edward M. Kennedy,” she said. “Their stories are very different, but they share a commitment to the timeless American ideals of justice and fairness, service and sacrifice, faith and family.”

Such leaders, said the daughter of President John F. Kennedy, come rarely. “But once or twice in a lifetime, they come along just when we need them the most. Never before, she said, has she had a leader inspire her “the way people tell me my father inspired them.”

“But I do now,” she said to more cheers. “And I know someone else who’s been inspired all over again by Senator Obama. In our family, he’s known as Uncle Teddy. More than any senator of his generation, or perhaps any generation, Teddy has made life better for people in this country and around the world. For 46 years, he has been so much more than just a senator for the people of Massachusetts, he’s been a senator for all who believe in a dream that’s never died.”

That last reference to Kennedy’s famous concession speech at the 1980 convention in New York City brought a fresh outpouring of emotion from a flag-waving crowd anxious about the possibility of a rift in the party like the one that contributed to President Jimmy Carter’s loss to Ronald Reagan that fall.

Indeed, one of the loudest ovations before the Kennedy tribute came when the former president and his wife Rosalynn Carter took the stage briefly to greet the crowd and wave.

Caroline Kennedy continued her brief remarks with the refrain that Kennedy is “your senator, too.” For example, she said, “If you’re benefiting from a Medicare program that he fought to create and just last month came back to the Senate to help save, Teddy is your senator, too.”

She told how her uncle’s dedication to public service and generosity to constituents has never kept him from his own extended family’s First Communions and graduation days and opportunities to minister to a member of the clan in difficulty or pain.

During his illness this summer, Kennedy and his wife, Vickie, “taught us all about dignity, about courage and about the power of love,” his niece said.

Caroline Kennedy introduced an 8-minute video tribute to her lone surviving uncle. Directed by filmmakers Ken Burns and Mark Herzog, the video featured recent interviews, footage of the senator sailing in the waters near his home on Cape Cod, where he has spent much of his time since his diagnosis last spring with malignant brain cancer.

Echoing the veteran Senate committee chairman’s tactics at legislative hearings over the years, the video sought to address the nation’s hopes and fears through the voices of ordinary people.

Poignant as the video was for many delegates, it was the last liberal lion who rallied the convention to shouts and a few tears. Kennedy appeared on stage in a dark suit, accompanied by his wife and captivated the crowd for about 10 minutes.

The peak of feeling came when Kennedy paraphrased his 1980 speech and said, apropos of Obama’s coming campaign, “The work begins anew, the hope rises again and the dream lives on!”

Then Kennedy said, “I pledge to you that I will be there next January on the floor of the U.S. Senate.

At that point, the crowd took up its first spontaneous chant of this convention: “Teddy! Teddy! Teddy!”

And when the speech was over, Uncle Teddy was surrounded on the stage by his family, including son Patrick.

jmulligan@belo-dc.com