Sen. Edward Kennedy dies at 77: Share your thoughts on Twitter

A force: Never in his long career has Ted Kennedy been more vital or central to political life. [Boston Phoenix]

CNN and Boston.com are reporting that Kennedy succombed to brain cancer tonight at his home in Hyannis. Tributes are already in progress on all the major networks, which have cut into late-night programming to run highlight reels from his career. We're still pretty partial to this one:

As we update this, at 1:50 a.m., the Globe and the Times are still in single-line "breaking news mode," and Kennedy's site is still displaying his statement on the death of Eunice two weeks ago. ABC News has a package up, and over 50 comments so far. And, true to form, the Herald's commentors duly upheld their reputations as the world's biggest douchebags: the first comment on the tabloid's obit is someone saying "No great loss."

In the meantime, below, you can monitor real-time tributes on the only network that matters: Twitter, where "Senator Ted Kennedy" is now the top trending topic.