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The 76-year-old Democratic liberal lion was released ahead of schedule from the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston where he was admitted on Sunday after suffering a seizure at the Kennedy family compound in northeastern Hyannis.

The diagnosis that the Democratic patriarch, the last surviving brother of assassinated president John F. Kennedy, had a malignant brain tumour had sent shockwaves through Congress, where he has been a dominant figure for nearly half a century.

But overnight the hospital said the scion of the country`s foremost political dynasty had "recovered remarkably quickly from his Tuesday procedure and therefore will be released from the hospital ahead of schedule.

"He will return to his home on Cape Cod while we await further test results and determine treatment plans. He`s feeling well and eager to get started," the hospital said.

His wife Vicki told the Kennedy clan in an email that her husband had been eager to check out so he could get organised for a big weekend sailing regatta.

"Teddy is leading us all, as usual, with his calm approach to getting the best information possible.

"He`s also making me crazy (and making me laugh) by pushing to race in the Figawi this weekend," she wrote in the email, which was read to AFP.

Senator Kennedy, sailing in his schooner Mya, has been a keen competitor in the race from Hyannis to the island of Nantucket, about 30 miles south across the Nantucket Sound, for most of its 30-year history.

As he walked out of the hospital, embracing family and friends and waving to applauding supporters before getting into a waiting car, the senator looked remarkably fit.

Doctors had earlier told the Cape Cod Times that Senator Kennedy was in a comatose state when he first arrived at the local Cape Cod Hospital on Sunday after suffering two seizures.

The hospital`s chief of neurosurgery, Patrick Murray, told the paper the emergency department staff and physician Robert Zarum had resuscitated Kennedy "and possibly saved his life" before he was airlifted to Boston.

Senator Kennedy, who exerts heavy influence within his party and in Congress, is a fierce critic of President George W. Bush and a supporter of Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama.

An unapologetic liberal and an orator who recalls a bygone era of stemwinding political rhetoric, he is a champion of causes such as health care, education, workers rights and immigration reform.

He has however reached out to work with Republicans and Mr Bush said today: "All of us are so pleased that Senator Kennedy has gone home, and our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family."

Senator Kennedy, whose eighth term in the Senate expires in 2012, was once the heir apparent of his political dynasty, and apparently destined for the White House.

But his career was rocked by the death of a young woman, Mary Joe Kopechne, in his car late one night in 1969 after he drove it off a bridge near Chappaquiddick island off the US east coast.

He did run for president in 1980 against incumbent Jimmy Carter. Senator Kennedy lost the Democratic nomination but managed to harm the sitting US president`s re-election hopes.

Senator Kennedy`s latest health scare came six months after he had surgery to clear a blockage in a major neck artery, a common procedure to prevent a stroke.

John F. Kennedy was shot and killed in 1963, and brother Robert Kennedy was shot dead while campaigning for the presidency in 1968.

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