The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer

Good evening from the Fleet Center in Boston. I'm Jim Lehrer and I welcome you to our special PBS NewsHour coverage of the second night of the Democratic National Convention. Once again we will offer the major events from the podium and floor, combined with analysis and commentary from Mark Shields and David Brooks, plus historians Michael Beschloss, Richard Norton-Smith and Ellen Fitzpatrick, among others. Gwen Ifill on the floor has the official Democratic lineup for the evening. Gwen? First, of course, Ted Kennedy, the liberal line of the party. We expect to hear from him shortly, followed by some vanquished foes of John Kerry's, Dick Gephardt and Howard Dean, a couple of rising stars of the party, Christy Vilsack of Iowa, Janet Napolitano, the governor of Arizona, and we're going to hear from Barack Obama, the keynote speaker and likely Democratic nominee in Illinois, perhaps the first African-American senator if he wins in November. Ron Reagan, an unlikely name that we're expecting to hear from, the son of the father who just, obviously the former president who just passed away. And then Theresa Hines Carey, the candidate's millionaire wife who is known for being very

outspoken and speaking her mind, and she's going to have a spotlight tonight. So we're excited to see what the delegates do tonight. Some of them actually are showing the first signs of a little bit of negativity in the room. They're wearing signs, scars around the neck that say, give Bush a pink slip. So we'll be watching for that all night tonight. Okay, thanks, Gwen. We'll be back to you many times during the course of the evening. And in a few moments, we're going to go to the podium to hear from Senator Kennedy. He has been being introduced at this moment and will be out soon. This is his night in the sun, Mark. His night in the sun it sure is, Jim. Ted Kennedy, who lost his one hope for the presidency in 1980. I mean, think of the irony. This is a man, one hour after his brother was murdered in 1968, people came to him and said, you've got to run in this place. Always expected to run, ran in 1980, lost the nomination to Jimmy Carter. Since then. Where he tried to take the nomination. But he lost the nomination. Yeah, he lost it. Jimmy Carter had the nomination. He lost his challenge. And since then, in the last quarter century, he has emerged at

what Richard and Michael and Ellen all, I think, correctly analyzed him as the dominant senator and certainly the greatest legislator of the Kennedys. But a great, not a great senator from the Republican point of view, right? Well, a fantastic senator. He's raised a lot of money for the Republican Party. I think there are people at Republicans, I would say, have two attitudes about Ted Kennedy. Admiration for the way he's stuck to his guns all this time, whether liberalism was up or down. He was never a new Democrat. He was always in a good old fashioned, old liberal. I think there's been some dismay over the past few years, the way partisanship has turned him into sometimes quite a nasty speaker, exaggerating and sometimes disgracefully, I think exaggerating some Republican failings. He's become quite a partisan speaker. Nonetheless, I think you've got to respect the way he has stuck true to his guns and in some ways been an effective senator simply in the legislative arena. And as you say, an effective fundraiser for Republicans because they use him as a symbol of the liberal Democratic Party, right? Absolutely. I do. Nobody in the Senate. I do. Nobody in the Senate, nobody in the Senate

is better at building coalitions. I mean, across party lines to conservatives, to other Republicans than Ted Kennedy. I mean, Ted Kennedy is a very, he's a pragmatic legislator. And here he is now. He's coming out to address this convention in his hometown of Boston, Massachusetts. The man he's shaking hands there is the man who introduced him, the historian Robert Carroll. Known mostly for his books about Lyndon Johnson rather than Kennedy's. Thank you, Bob Carroll. Thank you, Bob Carroll, for that generous introduction. Thank you, Bob Carroll, for your generous introduction.

And with the continuing support of the people of Massachusetts, I intend to stay in this job until I get the hang of it. To my fellow delegates and my fellow Democrats, I've waited a very, very long time to say this. Welcome to my hometown. Welcome to my hometown. To Americans everywhere whose aspirations have been kindled anew by this campaign, we who convene here this evening in Liberty's cradle say welcome home. Welcome home for the ideals born in Boston and strengthened by centuries of service and sacrifice. Ideals like freedom and equality and opportunity and fairness and common decency for all.

Ideals that all Americans yearn to reclaim and make no mistake, come November, reclaim them we shall by making John Kerry President of the United States. These fundamental ideals light the fire in each of us to do all we can and then more to see that next January, John Kerry has a nice new home at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. It fills me with pride to have our Democratic convention in this city, this hallowed ground that gave birth to these enduring American ideals. Like my grandfather and my brother before me, I have been privileged to serve this place

where every street is history's home. The old North Church where lanterns signal Paul Revere. The old state house where John Adams said independence was born. The golden steps where waves of new immigrants entered this new land of liberty and opportunity including all eight of my own great-grandparents from Ireland. Here in New England we love our history and like all Americans we learn from it. We breathe it deep because it sustains us, it guides us, it inspires us. It was no accident that Massachusetts was founded as a Commonwealth, a place where authority begins not to a single ruler but to the people themselves, joined together for the common good. The old system was based on inequality.

Loyalty was demanded, never earned. Leaders rule by fear, by force, by special favors for the few. Under the old unequal system the quality of your connections mattered more than the content of your character. Your voices were not heard, your concerns did not matter, your votes did not count. The colonists knew they could do better, just as we know we can do better today but only if we all work together. Only if we all reach out together, only if we all come together for the common good. Now it is for us the patriots of this new century to do that, to shape our own better future

and make it worthy of our past, to choose a leader worthy of our country and that leader is John Kerry. Today more than two centuries after the embattled farmers stood and fired the shirt around the the ideals of our founders still resonate across the globe. Young people in other lands inspired by the liberty we cherish linked arms and sang we shall overcome when the Berlin Wall fell, when apartheid ended in South Africa and when the courageous protests took place in Tiananmen Square. The goals of the American people are every bit as high as they were more than 200 years ago. If America is failing to reach them today it's not because our ideals need

replacing, it's because our president needs replacing. We bear no ill will, we bear no ill will towards our opponents. In fact we'd be happy to have them over for a polite little tea party I know just the place right down the road in Boston Harbor. For today like the brave and visionary men and women before us we are determined to change our government. I've served for many years in the Senate and have seen many elections but there have been none, none more urgent

and more important than this one. Never before have I seen a contrast so sharp or consequences so profound as in the choice we will make for president in 2004. So much of the progress we once achieved has been turned back. So much of the goodwill America once enjoyed in the world has been lost but we are a hopeful nation and our values and our optimism are still burning bright. Those same values and optimism are what brought our forbearers across the harsh ocean and sustained them through many brutal winters that inspired patriots from John Adams to John Kennedy to John Kerry and their strong belief that America's best days are still ahead. There's a reason

why this land was called the American experiment. If dedication to the common good were hardwired into human nature we would never have had a need for a revolution. If each of us cared about the public interest we wouldn't have had the excesses of Enron. We wouldn't have had the abuses of Halliburton. And vice president Cheney would be retired to an undisclosed location. So soon thanks to John Kerry and John Edwards he'll have ample time to do just that. Our country demands a great deal from us and we rightfully demand a great deal from our leaders.

America is a compact, a bargain, a contract. It says that all of us are connected, our fates are intertwined, 50 states, one nation. Our constitution binds us together. Yet in our own time there are those who seek to divide us, one community against another, urban against rural, city against suburb, whites against blacks, men against women, straights against gays, Americans against Americans. In these challenging times for our country, in these fateful times for the world, America needs a genuine uniter, not a divider who only claims to be a uniter. We have seen how they rule. They divide and try to conquer. They know the power of the people is

weakened when our house is divided. They believe they can't win unless the rest of us lose. We reject that shameful view. The Democratic Party has a different idea. We believe that all of us can win. We believe we are one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. And when we say all, we mean all. Today, in this global age, our goal of the common good extends far beyond America's borders. As President Kennedy said in 1963, in his quest for restraint in nuclear arms, we can help make the world safe for diversity. For in the final analysis, our most basic common link

is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future, and we are all mortal. Interdependence defines our world. For all our might and for all our wealth, we know we are only as strong as the bonds we share with others. The dangers of terrorism and nuclear proliferation, our greatest challenges, are shared by all nations. And our greatest opportunities, from achieving lasting peace and security, to building a more prosperous society, to ending the ravages of disease and the despairs of poverty, can all be seized, but only if the world works together and only if America helps to lead in the right direction. And John Kerry has the skill, the judgment, and the experience to lead us on that great journey.

The eyes of the world were on us, and the hearts of the world were with us after September 11th, until this administration broke that trust. We should have honored, not ignored, the pledges that we made. We should have strengthened, not scorned, the alliances that won two world wars and the Cold War. Most of all, we should have honored the principle, so fundamental, that our nation's founders placed it in the very first sentence of the Declaration of Independence, that America must give a decent respect to the opinions of mankind. We fail to do that in Iraq. And more than 900 of our servicemen and women have already paid the ultimate price.

Nearly 6,000 have been wounded in this misguided war. The administration has alienated long-time allies. Instead of making America more secure, they have made us less so. They have made it to win the real war on terrorism and the war against Al-Qaeda. And none of this had to happen. How could any president have possibly squandered the enormous goodwill that flowed to America from across the world after September 11th? Most of the world still knows what we can be, but only we can be. And they want us to be that nation again. America must be a light to the world. And under John Kerry and John Edwards, that's what America will be.

We need a president. We need a president who will bind up the nation's wounds. We need a president who will be a symbol of respect in a world yearning to be at peace again. We need John Kerry as our president, time and again in America's history. We as Democrats have offered new hope of a stronger, fairer, more prosperous future for all our people. A society that feeds the hungry, shelters the homeless, cares for the sick so that none must walk alone. And when the elderly faced poverty and sickness that threatened their golden years, we created Social Security and Medicare. And when the voices of many citizens,

when unheard and their lives were blighted by bigotry, we fought for equality and justice and for civil rights and voting rights and rights for women and for the cause of America with disabilities. We fought for those. And when higher education was beyond the reach of veterans returning home from the war, we created the GI Bill of Rights and we have continued ever since to make college more affordable for millions more Americans. And when men and women needed protection in the workplace, we demanded safe conditions for their jobs. We insisted on the right to higher pay for working overtime and we guaranteed the right to form a union. And we pledge, and we pledge, and we pledge a fair minimum wage so that no one in America

who works for a living should have to live in poverty. Only leaders who know this history and abide by the ideals that shaped it deserve to be trusted with our nation's future. Sometimes in recent years, they have fooled us with their rhetoric, but we will not let them fool us twice. In the White House, inscribed on a plaque above the fireplace in the state dining room is a prayer, a simple but powerful prayer of John Adams, the first president to live in that great house. It reads, I pray heaven to bestow the best of blessings on this house and all that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but the honest and wise ever rule under this roof.

In November, we will make those words ring true again. All of us, all of us who know John Kerry know that he's a fitting heir to these ideals. I've known John Kerry for three decades. I've known him as a soldier, as a peacemaker, as a prosecutor, as a senator, and as a friend. And in every role, he has shown his strengths. He was the right man for every tough task, and he is the right leader for this time in our history. John is a war hero who understands that America's strength comes from many sources, especially the power of our ideas. He knows that a true leader inspires hope

and vanquishes fear. This administration does neither. Instead, it brings fear. Fear of rising costs for health care and for college. Fear of higher unemployment and lesser pay. Fear for the future of Social Security and Medicare. Fear of greater bigotry. Fear of pollution stain on our magnificent natural heritage. Fear of four more years of dreams denied and promises unfilled and progress rolled back. In the depths of the Depression, Franklin Roosevelt inspired the nation when he said, the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. Today we say the only thing we have to fear is four more years of George Bush.

John Kerry offers hope. John Kerry offers hope, not fear. The hope of real victory against terrorism and true security at home. Of good health care for all Americans. Of Social Security that is always there for the elderly. Of schools that open golden doors of opportunity for all our children. Of an economy that works for everyone. That's the kind of America we'll have with John Kerry in the White House. And the roots of that America are planted deep in New England soil. Across this region are burial grounds. Many so humble you find them without intending to. You're in a town like Concord, Massachusetts or Hancock, New Hampshire.

You're visiting the old church there and behind the chapel you find a small plot. Simple stones bearing simple markers. The markers say war of 1776. They do not ask for attention but they command it all the same. These are the patriots who won our freedom. These are the first Americans who enlisted in a fight for something larger than themselves. For a shared faith in the future. For a nation that was alive in their hearts but not yet part of their world. They and their fellow patriots won their battle. But the larger battle for freedom and justice and equality and opportunity is our battle too. And it's never fully won. Each new generation has to take up the cause. Sometimes with weapons in hand.

Sometimes armed. Only with faith and hope like the marches in Birmingham and Selma four decades ago. Sometimes the fight is waged in Congress or the courts. Sometimes on foreign shores like the battle that called one of my brothers to war in the Pacific and another to die in Europe. Now it is our turn to take up the cause. Our struggle is not with some monarch named George who inherited the crown although it often seems that way. Our struggle our struggle is with the politics of fear and favoritism in our own time in our own country. Our struggle like so many others before is with those who put their own narrow interest

ahead of the public interest. We hear echoes of past battles in the quiet whisper of the sweetheart deal in the hushed promise of a better break for the better connected. We hear them in the cries of the false patriots who bully dissenters into silence and submission. These are familiar fights. We fought and we won them before and with John Kerry and John Edwards leading us we will win them again and again and again and make America stronger at home and respected once more in the world. For centuries kings ruled by what they claim was divine right. They could not be questioned. They could not be challenged. The people's fate was not their own but today because of the

surpassing wisdom of our founders the constant courage of the patriots of the past and the power of America still rests securely in citizens hands. In our hands true to our highest and noblest ideals we intend to use that power. We will use it wisely and well. We will use it the poet's words my brothers loved to strive to seek to find and not to yield. We will use it to heal to build to hope and to dream again and in doing so we will truly make our country once more America the beautiful. Thank you very much. Senator Edward Kennedy now 72 years old the fifth longest serving senator in U.S. history

and is now the second most senior member of the Senate today. Only Robert Byrd Democrat of West Virginia has been there longer and he's made it clear Senator Kennedy has that he plans to run for reelection in the year 2006. He is the senior senator from Massachusetts. John Kerry is the junior senator. There he is now with some of his family coming with him to the to the stage. There is a concert for him after this tonight in downtown Boston. There are 100 members of family I understand staying at one hotel here in Boston. This is truly a Kennedy day Kennedy evening for Kennedys and for these for these Democrats. They are now going by remote. Those are pictures of people who had gathered and were shown earlier as this convention opened. Let's go now to Margaret Warner for some history on the Kennedy legacy and the

Democratic Party. Margaret. Thanks Jim. To explore that I'm joined by our news hour regulars presidential historians Michael Beschloss and Richard Norton-Smith and with us again tonight is Ellen Fitzpatrick professor of history at the University of New Hampshire. Well this Kennedy tonight linked the history of this proud city of his with the mission and task for the Kerry Edwards campaign and the party. I think his choice of periods to focus on was absolutely fascinating because as the senator said this is an area that's very rich in history. He could have talked as so many politicians have about the founding of New England the most often used metaphor in American history is that of a city on a hill. He could have talked about the 19th century Boston of the Irish immigrants his ancestors. Instead he talked about revolutionary America the Tea Party about the Constitution the founders about John Adams about Paul Revere and

the Old North Church and the message was that patriotism is not inconsistent with revolution that you can throw out a moneyed aristocracy and a distant out of touch ruler and really achieve the ideals of liberty and I think that was a powerful use of location. There's a real thing of restoration wasn't there? Oh absolutely I have to say that it's a little ironic to be talking about dynastic pretensions when your name is Kennedy you know George George III whatever but you know what yeah it's fine this is a stump speak. We saw tonight the lion roared and it sounded like a lion in winter either but like other lions it feasted on red meat and there was lots of red meat in this speech. David said earlier tonight is liberal night I think it's probably red meat night. This was classic Ted Kennedy I mean this was this illustrated you know

it was a sentiment it was sarcasm it was history it was hyperbole and it got this crowd revved up and it illustrated again why Ted Kennedy is the best stump speaker the best advocate of if you in the land. And you know Margaret there are a lot of people who said you know the Democrats should not be holding this convention in Boston holding it in a place like Phoenix or somewhere else in the Sunbelt yeah some state in which which really does hang in the balance this year. I think Massachusetts is probably rather likely to go democratic but in a way he made the rationale for having it here because here is where the Boston Tea Party took place and you did overthrow a tyrannical leader whether voters will agree with that or not. What did you think of his use or his evocations of his brothers and the Kennedy legacy? I was surprised that there was as little of that as there was and I think the he really in many ways recessed his family and even his

he mentioned his immigrant ancestors but it was all about revolution. And that was the surprise because this is a guy who in the 1930s as a kid met Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill who knew his father that history goes all the way up to John Kerry and John Edwards but did not use himself as reference but in a way his big speech was 1980 Democratic convention when he lost it sort of harkened back to that. The Democrats have to hope that this is a break with tradition because Ted Kennedy has given his greatest speeches in moments of defeat. Richard William Delahunt who's a congressman from Massachusetts in fact Ted Kennedy lives in his district said today compared Ted Kennedy to his brothers and said and let me get this exactly he said his legacy exceeds his brothers do you think history will judge Ted Kennedy that way? That's a good question let's put it this way there is no one in America better entitled

to be known as Mr. Democrat and that's because he inherited his his brother's legacies he has built upon those institutionally in the Senate he has become an icon he's become a voice he's become a champion for values and principles that have often been out of fashion he has been dismissed repeatedly as a dinosaur and yet the lion roars. All right thank you we'll be back with you three. Jim back to you. Hi David Brooks and Mark Shields are here. David red meat speech? Pretty much I thought it was a clever speech I actually thought didn't think it was about revolution but about ideals the word ideals mentioned probably 10 times in this speech and I what I think I think he tried to do was show that there's certain ideals running through American history which John Kerry is part of and I think that is an attempt to achieve three things the first thing to show is that New England is not this liberal place off on the northeast part of the country but its core of America John Kerry is part of the core of of New England he is a rooted person rooted in certain ideals which are part a deep part of him he's not some guy who speaks

French who went to a sports school he's American and then then that's the final and the third thing which is that this is not somehow out of a mainstream America Boston is mainstream America John Kerry is mainstream America this is patriotism without saying we're patriotic this was a speech all about that. How did you hear and read the speech Mark? Jim that this speech and and the have evoked patriotism and especially military patriotism as a democratic credential more than any democratic convention I have been to in memory I mean here we are these in this David's absolutely right the Home Office of Cultural Contemporary Liberalism in this country and Ted Kennedy Ted Kennedy recast it as the cradle of democracy I thought beyond that I mean this is a he reminded us in a strange way that the only three states of the 50 where both senators are veterans of military service Massachusetts is one of them South Carolina and Hawaii being the other two

John Kerry and Ted Kennedy both were and have that authority to speak about patriotism those terms. All right and now we go back to the podium and to Missouri Congressman Dick Kephart the former House Minority Leader and unsuccessful candidate for the party's nomination this year. My friends, fellow Democrats, fellow Americans, I've known John Kerry for most of my congressional career. I've worked with him. I know his values. I know his heart and I say to you with complete conviction there is no one in these United States with more courage, more judgment, more resolve, more of the knowledge and experience

to hold the job of president of these United States of America. At the dawn of the global economy and information age we need a president like John Kerry who will turn around the worst job creation record since Herbert Hoover. At a time when world markets are getting more competitive John Kerry will put an end to shipping jobs overseas to special interest bailouts and instead will invest in the skills and education of our people again. At a time of global terror John Kerry will take on the terrorists where they live before they can threaten us where we live. And he will never pursue a go-it-alone policy in the foreign policy area that leaves America

isolated from its friends and hinders the hunt for our enemies. There's another reason we must win this election and put John Kerry in the White House because he will bring with him a great fighter for hard-working men and women, Senator John Edwards of North Carolina. In an election year we hear a lot about the word character. In this election there's a candidate whose character was forged throughout the genuine battlefield heroism through three purple hearts in the Vietnam War. John Kerry defended our freedom at the barrel of a gun. He put himself in personal peril to save the lives of his crewmates. We know he won't take matters of war and peace lightly.

John Kerry has the strength to keep America strong. This year, in this election, there's a candidate whose character has shone through in the many battles he's taken on for our families. As one of the first Democrats to take on the deficit, as a champion of public education and our children's future, John Kerry has been a leader on these issues for decades. And this year, in this election, there is a candidate who understands middle-class squeeze, who understands what it means for a parent to lose a job, for a family to go without health care or be hit by rising college costs. As some of you know, I've had a single simple purpose for my years in public service, to make it possible for hard-working American families to succeed, to help the growing number of families where both parents work just to pay the bills,

where life is a never-ending scramble of credit card debt, where it's a struggle to pass on the children. Instead of just helping those at the top, I think we ought to give everyone a chance to reach the top. And if we strengthen all our families, if we make sure our economy enriches everyone, mark my words, the people at the top will do even better. As Dr. Martin Luther King taught us well, I can never be what I ought to be until you can be what you ought to be. If a child doesn't have health insurance, we all pay the price when she shows up at the

emergency room. If a child drops out of school, we all pay the price of violence, dependence, and indigence. Words can be cheap in a political year. We all know that. But I'm going to borrow some familiar ones to tell you that we need John Kerry as president because we need a uniter, not a divider in the White House. We need John Kerry as president because it's time to restore honor and dignity to the White House to have a president whose whole life is a testament to his goodness and decency and to his courage under fire. We need John Kerry as president of the United States of America because he will fight for

working families and help America to be what it ought to be. When I think back on the months and miles of my own campaign, my heart is full. You see, I didn't come from much. My dad was a milk truck driver, a proud member of the Teamsters. My mom was a secretary. Neither finished high school. I never dreamed I'd have the chance to serve so many people in so many ways. I found a true partner in life, my wife Jane, who I adore, and children Matt, Chrissy, and Kate, and their families that I couldn't be prouder of. I had the honor to serve my constituents in Missouri and a gifted and loyal staff who helped me throughout my career. I'm a lucky man. Together they taught me that win or lose, the dream is what matters,

the fight is what it's all about. For an America that works for the many, not just for the few, for an America that lifts all those who've been locked out and left out of our bounty and promise. I ran for president because I wanted to give those people a voice and I stand proudly at John Kerry's convention because he speaks for them. He strives to lift them up. Their cause is his unyielding concern to all those who supported me and all those who share my dream for a better America. Thank you. May God bless you and may God shine on America. Former House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, the next speaker will be the current Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle. Before we go to him, before he's introduced and speaks, we have a few moments

to go to Gwen Ifill down on the floor. Gwen? Jim, I'm down on the floor with Dave Colby. He's a Gephardt delegate, originally a Gephardt delegate from Ohio. Did that sound like a career valedictory to you? I guess so. How does that make you feel? Kind of mixed feelings? No, I think it's fantastic as I ran as a Gephardt delegate at first. Everyone in Ohio, working families that are really concerned, have watched jobs, hemorrhage in Ohio and have watched the last four years, our economy tank. The only thing that's going up is gas prices and education costs. Richard Gephardt has been with working families his entire career. Let me ask you this, Ohio's a toss-up right now. Do you think John Kerry can pull it out? I know John Kerry's going to pull this out. It was only 3.9% last election without a campaign there for the last four weeks of the election. Ohio is excited, working families are excited. We have people coming out that haven't been involved in politics and it's just going to be a great year for Kerry.

Okay, Dave Colby, thanks very much. Back to you, Jim. Right, and the Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota has been introduced and will now address this convention. Thank you very much. Thank you. I want to thank you all and I thank the people of my home state of South Dakota for the honor of representing you in the United States Senate. Over the next few weeks, I will be driving from town to town talking to South Dakotans. One of my favorite things to do every August, I listen to farmers and ranchers and teachers, tribal leaders, police officers, small business owners, moms and dads, people who are struggling and others who are doing well. They don't agree on every issue, but the common thread that binds them together is a love of our country. They understand that we

have a moral responsibility to create a better future for our children and our grandchildren and they want a stronger America here at home. South Dakotans reject the defeatist view that we have to have enough money to build Iraq, but we can't afford to take care of the needs here at home. They wonder how we can build new schools in Iraq while so many American schools are crumbling and it doesn't make sense to them that we're paying over two dollars for gasoline at home while American taxpayers are funding a nickel a gallon gas in Iraq. Americans aren't asking for special deals from Washington. They simply want their government to do right by America. Doing right by America means that we don't just talk about our values,

we live them and we honor the fundamental difference between right and wrong. John Kerry's entire life has been an inspirational example of doing right by America. When our generation was called to serve in Vietnam, he answered that call. He risked his life to save the life of others and let his small band of brothers to safety. He didn't talk about patriotism, he lived it. When he came home from the war, he dedicated his life to public service. He worked first as a prosecutor putting criminals behind bars and as a United States Senator, John Kerry has stood up to the drug companies and fought the lower prices for seniors and he has continued to fight for his brothers in arms. I know we fought side by side for

veterans health care, justice for victims of Agent Orange and a full accounting of all Americans POWs and soldiers missing in action. We've done that. John Edwards has spent his life fighting for the little guy. He's done his best to make things right when negligence caused terrible harm to children and families and in the United States Senate he has dedicated himself to making sure that American families are treated fairly by HMOs and insurance companies. John Kerry and John Edwards both understand that by doing right by America means accepting the moral responsibility of making America stronger and smarter and more secure. It means changing the way we do business in Washington. Today the middle class squeeze has become a way of life

for millions of American families. Family incomes haven't risen in four years but family expenses are soaring. Gas prices are up 22 percent, college tuition up 28 percent, health care premiums up 36 percent. In the Kerry administration the needs of regular families will be moved from the back burner to the front burner. Boardroom priorities won't crowd out, the kitchen table values and the era of Enron and Halliburton undermining our common purpose will come to an end. John Kerry and John Edwards and all Democrats will work to expand the circle of opportunity and prosperity for all Americans. We will fix America's tax code to reward companies keeping good paying jobs here, not shipping them overseas. We will work to lower the cost of health care.

Every American should have the same health care options, the same price as members of Congress do and we will work to provide every senior with a real prescription drug benefit that actually lowers cost to seniors instead of handing billions of dollars to big drug companies and the HMOs. We're going to do that. We will invest in the new technologies that are the key to reducing America's dependence on imported oil. We will make sure that our troops have the pay and the equipment and the health care they deserve and that our allies do their fair share to honor the commitment to America's veterans. Tonight, thousands of miles from here, brave men and women are serving in Iraq. Many are members of the National Guard and the Reserve

from South Dakota and every state in our great nation. We owe them our profound thanks but words alone aren't good enough. Thousands will return home with no health insurance because their jobs don't provide it or they simply can't afford it. We reject the claim that we can't afford to provide our troops with access to affordable health care. We reject that and when our soldiers and when our soldiers do right by America, we must do right by them. America, America can do better and we will with President John Kerry and Vice President John Edwards and I pledge, I pledge as the next Majority Leader of the United States, we will get America back on the right track. On November 2nd, Democrats will take back the United

States Senate. We'll take back the Senate with Barack Obama and Tony Knowles and Ken Salazar and Inez Tenenbaum and Brad Carson and Erskine Bowles and all of our newly elected Democratic senators. We're going to do that and with John Kerry and John Edwards and with our colleagues in the House and with all the support of hard-working patriotic Americans across our great land, we will answer our country's call. We will do the right thing and we will do right by America. Thank you all very, very much. Thank you. The syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks are here. Mark, we've just heard from the two men, Tom Daschle and Dick Gephardt, who for years have been mostly the public face of the Democratic Party, the House leader from Gephardt and the

Senate leader Daschle. What do they represent? Well, Jim, Dick Gephardt obviously represents 28 years of steadfast Democratic leadership in the House of Representatives and Dick Gephardt really said to this crowd tonight and I guess to the country, John Kerry really, the things I fought for as the advocate and the champion of working people and labor union members and perhaps those who weren't privileged, John Kerry will fight your fight. I believe in him. He has my confidence and my faith and, you know, we all, they say journalists ought to be trying to be objective. We're not objective. No human being is objective. You try and be fair but you like some people but then you like others and I have to confess, I like Dick Gephardt a lot. He is a totally decent man. He's an enormously balanced man. He's a good man and he will be missed. Would you agree, David, that Gephardt and Daschle also represent kind of

the economics as they've always spoken kind of for the economic side of the Democratic message? Would you not agree? Yeah, the unflattering side is they represent a Democratic party that I think many Democrats didn't think fought hard enough, did not reclaim the House or the Senate, did not have an effective message against the Republicans, what has been a very good Republican six or seven years. Though let me just underline what Mark just said about Dick Gephardt. I thought that was one of the best speeches we've heard in the past two days. It was a speech that grew organically out of his life and was a simple statement of his life. I thought it was a beautiful speech, very pure, very nice, really quite admirable, one of the best moments we've had. Okay, Ray Suarez has more on the economic message of the Democrats, Ray. Jim, I'm joined by James McGreevey, Governor of New Jersey and by New York Congressman Charlie Rangel, the senior Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee. Governor, a lot of the economic indicators have been heading north in your state. Tens of thousands of new jobs created in the country at large. There are a lot of encouraging

economic numbers. Does that take the economy off the Democrats' plate as an issue? I don't think so, Ray. I think what's important to note is that this president has arguably the worst record since the White House. We asked for a stimulus package that would provide for an incentive for job creation. There are two basic requirements, building schools and building roads. And unfortunately, the White House wasn't forthcoming. So whether it's tax policy, a stimulative package, I think that the White House has failed to be responsive to not only job creation, but also workforce training, workforce development. And I think this is an area that many states, with Republican and or Democratic governors, are very much on their own. We're looking for a partnership with Washington, one that arguably had been worked on with, whether it's President Nixon, other Republican, as well as Democratic presidents, just not forthcoming with this administration. But are New Jerseyans

who are doing well in this current era going to be receptive to the Democratic message on the economy? Well, I think New Jersey's doing well for a number of reasons, particularly in pharmaceutical logistics. The port is expanding by virtue of Pacific Rim trade, also our logistical position. But I think there's a general anxiety as to the economy nationwide. People understand sort of the mixed performance of the Dow. And I think people understand the importance of having a tax policy, particularly a tax break for the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans that disproportionately favor the wealthy, that isn't necessarily tied to an expansive economic policy. Congressman Wrangel, is the economy going to be the issue that's the winner, the central one for the fall campaign in upper Manhattan? Well, you can't ignore the war. And the war has something to do with the economic situation as to who is fighting the war. Fighting men and women are patriots, but most all of them volunteered to come from communities that had high unemployment. And there's a relationship

between unemployment and retention and recruitment to the extent that the military now is offering twenty thousand dollars for any high school grad that enlists for six years. And as they say that the military demands are going to increase, there's going to be a cutoff point between how many young men and women are willing to risk their lives because they want a decent job or better education. Another point is that when you said specifically my community, half of the black adults, 50 percent of males between 18 and adulthood are out of work, unemployed. You can talk about this jobless recovery, but what it means to us is that multinational corporations are making decisions. It's not what anyone jobs here, jobs abroad, is where they're going to make the profits. They're making the profits, but they're not creating the jobs. Let me jump in because one

of the central features of the Kerry proposals now is to rescind the Bush tax cuts on people making over two hundred thousand dollars a year. You're the ranking Democrat on ways and means that will cross your desk. Can that pass if there's a President Kerry and still a Republican Congress? It's going to be difficult. I think that in order to reach a consensus on our committee, and if I'm the chairman of that committee, I would want Republican support. I don't think there's going to be a Democratic or Republican answer. We have to have the American people to believe that in the ways and means committee and the Senate Finance Committee, we're coming up with a tax policy that is fair and equitable. I think to do that, we're going to have to take in consideration the conservative and more Republican members and to increase that ceiling. But the truth will be that we would be able to save trillions of dollars by making certain that that top bracket of people, people that are making more profits now than ever before, that there would be a more equitable

distribution of the resources of our great country. Is the Kerry tax plan going to be a hard sell in New Jersey? I don't think so. In fact, Bob Rubin, the former treasurer, met with a number of Democratic governors today and his message was not only looking at the federal deficit, look at the lack of investment in research and development, the lack of investment in higher education, a broad array of factors that some of the long-term fundamentals for the United States economy were not relatively well positioned. And I think what Secretary Rubin, what Treasurer Rubin was talking about was the need not only for fiscal discipline, the importance of investing long-term in education and correcting the fundamentals. And his argument is that the Bush administration, particularly tax policies, aren't tied to sound economic policy. That the investment or that the tax break didn't inure to the benefit of a workforce development and job opportunity creation. Gentlemen, thank you both for being with us.

Thanks so much, Ray. Thank you, Ray. We're about to, in a few moments, we're going to go back to the podium. Howard Dean, the man who galvanized this Democratic party in many ways, is going to make his speech to this convention. But first, David Brooks, how would you, what would you say to those who would suggest, how are the Democrats are going to do what the governor of New Jersey is doing very well economically? And how does he or somebody in that position, who's a Democrat, say, well, my state's doing great. And I get credit for that because I'm the governor or I'm the whatever in my state and I'm a Democrat. But the rest of the country is not doing well. And so you've got to elect a Democratic president. Is that going to be a problem? It will be a challenge, though. Most of the states that are doing well are either safe Republican states or safe Democratic states. The coastal states are doing well. They're safe Democratic states. The Southwest is doing well. It's sort of right there in the middle of the where you've got things which are going downhill. You agree with that? Is it hard for somebody where things are going well in his or her little sphere to make the major case,

throw the rascals out, the other rascals out? No, it's a lot easier as it was during the 90s for governors to say, aren't I successful as the national economy boomed. And then, of course, you get things to go, it do go south on you. You can say that damn crowd in Washington is done again. But what's interesting, Jim, is that in spite of the improving numbers, the anxiety level... That's what the governor was talking about, the anxiety. The anxiety level, and especially about jobs without pension and without health care being created. That has really gotten people really concerned. I would say, though, we've heard a little less about what John Kerry is about to do. What are the four things he's going to do? There's been some mention of the health care plan for jobs. He says no more outsourcing. Well, outsourcing is only accounted for 2.5 percent of the job losses. That's not the problem. So there's not really yet an agenda yet on the table. We're about to hear from Howard Dean. Of course, we can talk about what he says after he says it, but a lot can be said about him going in, can't they? Not at a Democratic convention in the year

2004? Well, David has commented more than once about the dovishness, the anti-Iraqi feeling, war in Iraq feelings of the people in this room. They reflect Howard Dean. I mean, Howard Dean really did. You use the word galvanize this Democratic Party. There's no doubt about it, and he changed, Jim, the way we finance presidential campaigns. I mean, you say McCain Finegold shaves me in the reform law, limited what people could contribute, but at the same time, Howard Dean just brought millions of people in. I mean, ordinary people all of a sudden say, geez, I can write a check. This guy, and John Kerry's been the beneficiary, and I think that will be the legacy of Howard Dean, will be that citizen participation at the presidential level like we've never seen it before. We'll see. His campaign was based on taking on the party establishment, taking on John Kerry, Dick Ephart, Tom Daschle, Nancy Pelosi. All the people. He took on the Democratic establishment just as much as he took on and the Democratic establishment beat him, and the establishment won. Sometimes the establishment

doesn't win. This time it won, and they're all back together within the establishment. Well, and he's going to do what Dick Ephart did, which is to be the ambassador to his constituency, as he's already been in his debate with Ralph Nader on National Public Radio, to say John Kerry's OK. Now let's hear what Howard Dean has to say to these Democrats. He's just been introduced. Here we go. Ladies and gentlemen, the man who energized our party, Vermont's own Governor Howard Dean. All right, now he's being introduced. I spoke too soon. There he is. And we'll see which of you is right. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you, Maine and Vermont. Thank you, Texas and Michigan. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Well, David, he's getting the reception that reflects probably what Mark's point was rather than yours. No, that's absolutely wrong, Jim. No, it is a party you could love. This is not the establishment. This is the establishment. He's come aboard. I see, I see. And they agree with him. I thought David would be more gracious, Jim. Anyhow, just for the record, you know, he was the governor of Vermont from 1991 to 2003. Twelve years he was governor of Vermont. He's a physician, as everyone who paid attention to the Democratic nomination race

certainly knows. He was the conventional wisdom front runner and then boom, Iowa came and away he went. A lot of people still haven't figured that out, Mark. I'm sure you have. I have, Jim, and I'd be happy if anyone wants to send a postcard in. That was not a question. All right. Now we're going to, now he's going to get a chance to talk. Thank you so much. I was hoping for a reception like this. I was just kind of hoping it was going to be on Thursday night instead of Tuesday night. I may not be the nominee, but I can tell you this. For the next hundred days, I'll be doing everything that I can to make sure that John Kerry and John Edwards take this country back for the people who built it. Because, because tonight, tonight we are all here to represent the Democratic wing of the Democratic

Party. I, I am proud of John Kerry's leadership and I intend to stand shoulder to shoulder with him as we fight for the things that Harry Truman promised us in 1948. Health insurance for every single American. A jobs program that will create jobs instead of destroy them. Standing up for middle-class and working Americans who got a tax increase, not a tax cut. And standing up for a foreign policy that relies on the president of the United States telling the truth to the American people before we send our brave soldiers to fight in a foreign war.

I'd like a commander in chief who supports our soldiers and supports our veterans instead of cutting their hardship pay abroad and cutting their health benefits when they get back I'm Howard Dean and I'm voting for John Kerry. I'm voting for John Kerry and John Edwards because I'm tired of seeing hard working Americans struggling with jobs that pay less than they did four years ago. I'm voting for John Kerry and John Edwards because I want a president and vice president as good and as strong as the American people. I'm voting for John Kerry and John Edwards

because I want to see an America that's restored as the moral leader of the world. America's greatness rests on far more than the power of our arms. Our greatness is also measured by our goodness. It's in the capacity of our minds, of our hearts, and it's in the strength of our democracy. As I've traveled America, I've seen that strength. I've seen it in the people I've met. I've seen in their desire to take our country back for the American people. I saw it in a college student in Pennsylvania who sold her bicycle and sent us a check for a hundred dollars with a note. It said I sold my bicycle for democracy. I saw it in a woman from Iowa who handed me $50 all in quarters. She saved it from her monthly

disability check because she wanted to make America well again. I saw it in a 19-year-old from Alabama who had never been involved in politics before he got in his car and drove to Vermont because he didn't feel like anybody was listening to him in Washington. They learned that politics is too important to be left to politicians. They didn't just pack their bags. They packed their hopes that we can take our country back. You know what? We will. We are not going to be afraid to stand up for what we believe in ever again.

We are not going to let those who disagree with us shout us down under a banner of false patriotism. We are not going to give up a single voter or a single state because we're going to be proud to call ourselves Democrats, not just here in Boston. We're going to be proud to call ourselves Democrats in Mississippi. We're going to be proud to call ourselves Democrats in Utah and Idaho. And we are going to be proud to call ourselves Democrats in Texas. Never again will we ever be ashamed to call ourselves Democrats. Never, never, never.

We're not going to just change presidents in this election. We're going to change this country. We're going to reclaim the American dream. To everyone who supported me, you've given me so much and I can't thank you enough. This was never about me. This was about us. This was about giving new life to our party. This was about giving new energy to our democracy and providing hope again for the greatest nation on the face of the earth. And so today, even though you've already given so much, I want to ask you to give one more thing.

I want you to give America President John Kerry. Together, together, together we can take our country back and only you have the power to make it happen. You have the power. You have the power. You have the power to make it happen. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Former Vermont Governor Howard Dean, as he admitted at the beginning, he had planned to address this convention, but in a different capacity. What did you think of his speech, David Brooks? I thought it was a good summary of his appeal, his campaign. Talked about the people who sacrificed

so much. He talked about the Diniacs, had the you are the power, which was one of the strongest lines. The thing I've always been curious about with the Dean campaign where he says we'll never be ashamed to call ourselves Democrats. Never, never, never. When were people ashamed to call themselves Democrats? That clearly was part of the appeal that somehow Democrats weren't standing up and here was a guy who was going to stand up. But I don't recall a lot of shame about it, but the Democrats heart is with this guy. Their head is with Kerry, but their heart, I think, is still for a lot of them with this guy. How would you answer David's quote? What does he mean when he says we are never, ever going to deny being Democrats again? Never, never, never. What's he talking about? The people who supported Howard Dean felt that the Democrats, the leadership of the Democratic Party, Tom Daschle, Dick Kephart, John Kerry, John Edmonds, Joe Lieber, that go right through the whole litany of the party establishment, with the exception of Ted Kennedy and a few others, had caved to George Bush on the war in Iraq, that they didn't have an extended debate, that the country did it uninformed, rushed to war,

and were intimidated, fear in charge of being soft on terrorism to support the president in that battle. And he called them Bushlight. That's what he called them. And there was a sense of, you know, gee, we better not, we better not rock the boat and so forth. And Howard Dean did stand up. David's absolutely right. You saw more homemade signs here tonight. You saw it for Dean. I mean, this is the spontaneity of the convention was felt in the Howard Dean appearance here. It was affectionate. It was passionate. And it was real. It was not contrived. It wasn't planned or orchestrated. This is Howard Dean's emotional convention. His emotional convention, they knew they couldn't win with him, though. So they went with Kerry that year. Right. I think that's exactly what happened. And they decided they needed a designated driver, somebody who was safe, and somebody who could pass the commander-in-chief test. Somebody who had that military background. All right. Let's go quickly to Gwynne Eiffel

on the floor. Gwynne? Well, Jim, Mark was just talking about the passion on the floor. I'm here talking to Elizabeth Ehrenfeld, who's wearing a sticker that reads, Maniac for Kerry Edwards, Diniac for Kerry Edwards. You know, Howard Dean became very famous in this campaign by saying he was the Democrat who represented the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party. Does that wing still exist? I think it still does. And I think that wing is really going to go forward helping Kerry to be elected in this election and then go forward to building more grassroots support for Democratic candidates locally and hopefully nationally as well. You're from Maine. How difficult was it for Diniacs to finally buy into John Kerry? I'm a real environmentalist. That's one of my strongest issues. So for me to buy into Kerry, even that, I expect, was pretty easy. I was really a big supporter for Howard Dean because of his economic policies. And I think going away from what Bush has done with all the huge deficits is something that we're going to be going ahead with Kerry as well. And another big thing is foreign policy. And I think in that way, both

Dean and Kerry are looking forward to staying in, trying to get things fixed in Iraq and moving forward from where we are now, given that we're already there trying to sort out the situation as best we can. Quickly, do you think that in the end, Howard Dean changed the Democratic Party? He certainly did for me and he did for a lot of my friends. He really brought a lot more people into the Democratic Party. A lot more people got organized. They went to meetups. We had a huge turnout in our caucus, both in where I live in Falmouth and in Portland, because of Howard Dean, because they were really excited about supporting him. They felt he was a different type of candidate and they came out because of that. Elizabeth Ehrenfeld, thank you very much. Thank you. Back to you, Jim. Hey, thanks, Gwen. More history now and Margaret Warner is in charge of that. Margaret? And we're back with our historians Michael Beschloss, Richard Norton-Smith, and Alan Fitzpatrick, a history professor at the University of New Hampshire. Here we had another, just as Ted Kennedy did, another figure in the party essentially trying

to tie Kerry and Edwards to his own, that is Dean's own message, take our country back. How well do you think he did that? Did it really well and, you know, Dean performed a big service to the Democrats. Conservatives among the Republicans in 52, 56, 1960 went along with Eisenhower and Nixon, moderate platforms, much more moderate than they were. In 64, they said, we're sick of this. We want to express ourselves. We'll nominate Goldwater, even if we lose. In a way, the Dean acts were doing the same thing. They felt the Democrats were too moderate in the 90s. To an extent, they were saying in 2004, even if we lose, let's take the party back. Dean allowed that to happen within one cycle. Without the nomination, is it going to allow Kerry to have a chance to win this election this year? So do you think that Dean is right when he says, picking up on what Jim was discussing with Mark and David, that Democrats were afraid to call themselves Democrats, or some Democrats were? Maybe some. I think he's really talking in part about the new

Democrats who were afraid to embrace the label of liberalism. And I think he's presented himself. And the gentleman named Bill Clinton. Exactly. I think that's really the message here. And the people who had not participated in the political process, you want those people to walk away with something other than heartache, as was the case in 1968, when the anti-war Democrats lost the life of Robert Kennedy in that battle. He died that year. And Eugene McCarthy. How well, Richard, do you think he will fare? I mean, he sees himself as leader of this progressive movement. He founded an organization. Kerry has actually enlisted his support in a major way. He had a big debate with Ralph Nader. I mean, to really go after the progressive voters. Is there precedent for that, first of all, for someone like the nominee to turn to a rival with whom he didn't have great relations and essentially get his help? There is. And in fact, there are two examples, one

arguably very successful, the other the opposite. Think back to the late 80s, in 1988 in particular, Jesse Jackson, who contested the nomination really all the way to the convention, who demanded and deserved a prime spot on the program. And when he came to the podium, he made a speech about unifying the Democratic Party. It was essentially a pro-Dukakis speech, but it also advanced Jesse Jackson's historical stature and continuing political influence. Four years later, by contrast, Pat Buchanan demanded a space in prime time at the Republican convention in Houston, used it to declare cultural war, basically on his own president, did nothing to advance George, the first George Bush's electoral prospects, and arguably didn't do a whole lot to advance Pat Buchanan's. And how successful, Michael, have been efforts by figures like this? I mean, he just came like a meteor out of the blue to energize this whole movement. Now he is trying to sustain an independent movement. Have those had much success? Well, it depends on what happens if John Kerry

loses this year. I would bet you that Howard Dean will intend to run in 2008. And what he will say is, we lost in 2004 because once again, the Democrats were wishy washy. 1940 Wenda Wilkie came out of nowhere with the help of the galleries in Philadelphia shouting, we want Wilkie, we want Wilkie. Former utilities executive, the most unlikely, improbable candidate maybe in history, ran an amazing campaign, thought that he could create and sustain a movement, didn't work. The regulators wouldn't allow it, died tragically early. The odds are against Howard Dean. All right, we'll leave it there. We'll see you in a few more minutes. Back to the, no, back to Jim. Yes, right. Thank you. Thank you, Margaret. We are going to go back to the podium in a moment, though. But I just want a quick question, Mark. Do you see any long-term future for Howard Dean, or is this it for him? Jim, it all depends on November 2nd. November 2nd, if John Kerry wins, I mean, goodbye Howard. Well, it's goodbye all of them. I mean, they have to, a day is a lifetime

in politics, a week is an eternity, four years is a millennia. So, I think that everybody puts on hold. All right, now to the podium where another, where one of their rising political stars is about to speak. She's just been introduced, Governor Janet Napolitano of Arizona. Thank you. A leader, a hero, is someone who reaches out a hand when neighbors need help. Someone who has a vision of a better world and brings everyone along. Someone who gives up himself for the good of us all. He's someone who answers the call. He's someone who says, send me. From a Navy gunboat in Vietnam to a prosecutor's office in Massachusetts to the floor of the

country's call to serve. And this year, America is calling on him one more time to rebuild the strength of our nation and lift up everyone who's willing to work for the American dream. Today, today for millions of our people, that dream is like a mirage in the Arizona desert. It's alluring, but it's not real. John Kerry will bring the American dream back to life for every American who works hard and does what's right. And he'll start by tackling the rising cost of health care for all our people. Hard work used to be the price of admission to the American dream, but hard work alone is no longer enough to keep up with spiraling health costs.

Every day across Arizona and throughout America, people like you and me sit down at the dinner table long after the children have gone to sleep and struggle to figure out how to pay their insurance premiums. Every day, millions of older Americans are forced to buy prescription drugs at prices that are devouring their life savings or at times choose between paying for prescription drugs, buying groceries, or paying the rent. And every day, people go to work with the knowledge that they're just one serious illness or accident away from financial ruin. So, America's health care crisis isn't about statistics, and it isn't about politics. It's about people, our families and our neighbors and our friends. And it's time the people got the president and the health care they deserve.

It's about a mother in Tucson who works full-time to support her children but can't afford health insurance for them, even though cancer runs in her family. It's about a high school basketball player whose future was clouded when he suffered a stroke that has robbed him of his athletic scholarship and left his parents fighting to keep him insured as an adult. It's about businesses having a harder time doing the right thing to provide coverage for their workers. You know something has gone very wrong when Starbucks pays more for health care than it does for coffee beans and Ford pays more for health care than it does for steel. Health care costs have exploded over the past four years, and Americans have had enough.

You know, as I've traveled across Arizona, one thing I've noticed is that a lot of people seem to have quit talking about their health insurance problems. I think it's because it makes their blood pressure rise and they can't afford the medicine to bring it back under control. My friends, we are more than ready to make a change, and John Kerry is ready to make a difference. Because John Kerry knows the daily struggles Americans are facing and John Kerry has a plan. Under John Kerry's plan, every American will have access to affordable and reliable health care. He'll do it by cutting through government red tape and by cutting taxes for businesses that do the right thing and offer health plans for their employees. That's not just good health care

policy. When companies with health plans have an easier time keeping workers on the job, that's good for business. That's good for our families. That's good for America. Under John Kerry's plan, every American can get the same high quality health care that members of Congress have. You and I pay for that health plan. I think it's time we got to be a part of it. And John Kerry will help working families with tax credits so they can afford this care. John Kerry knows healthy children grow up stronger and they perform better in school. And that's why his plan will cover all our children. And John Kerry knows that every senior deserves access to affordable prescription drugs. Now right now, seniors can find affordable drugs

if they're willing to go to Canada or Mexico. But listen to this, the current administration has actually made it illegal to negotiate lower drug prices on behalf of seniors. Not only will John Kerry allow Medicare to negotiate better drug prices, he'll demand it. And John Kerry trusts us to make decisions about our health and the health of our loved ones. Under his plan, medical decisions will be made by doctors and patients, not HMOs and insurance companies. Because it's time Americans stopped being pushed around by their HMOs and started getting affordable, reliable health care that they need. It's time we gave every American child

a healthy start in life. It's time we had a better way to get Americans health care than using emergency rooms for basic medical needs. It's time our seniors can afford to fill their prescriptions at the corner pharmacy and not in another country. My friends, my friends, it's time to build a stronger America to renew the American dream and make health care affordable and available for all of us. This November, it's time to bring a real American hero, a real leader to the White House. It's time, it's high time to elect John Kerry President of the United States. The keynote address by Barack Obama is coming up soon, but right now we're going to take a short break and we'll be back with our live coverage of the 2004 Democratic

Convention in just a moment. This PBS show will return in a moment. When you remove the hype, the entertainment, the predatory stakeouts, the invasions of privacy,

the talk show shouting, and the blurring of lines between news and opinion, what you have is the most important news of the day. Good evening, I'm Jim Lehrer. On the NewsHour tonight, the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, weeknights only on PBS. They're the faces you know, the voices you trust. They're curious about the world like you, always seeking answers. At a time when the choices we face together have never been more important, they'll be there. Asking questions, providing insight, so you can decide. By the people, election 2004 coverage on PBS. We are PBS. And we're back with the Democrats in Boston. We'll be hearing soon from Barack Obama,

then Ron Reagan Jr., and Teresa Hines Carey. Barack Obama, of course, is making the keynote address. He will be introduced by Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, who is now the senior senator from Illinois. And Durbin is now introducing Barack Obama. Thank you very much. For the few, the proud, the Democrats serving in the United States Senate, we come to Boston to celebrate the promise of a new strength and a new leadership all across America. But friends, after the celebration, we must leave with the dedication to elect John Carey President of the United States of America. And we must elect a Democratic Congress. And we do need a Democratic Senate.

Not a Senate in the thrall of special interest, but a Senate working for the interests of families, businesses, and workers desperate for affordable quality health care. Not a Senate that fights for federal judges with limited talent, but a Senate that helps America develop talents of a new generation. Not a Senate interested in more tax cuts for the wealthy that mortgage our children's future, but a Senate working for schools that gives kids a chance to succeed. And too often, those of us who serve in the Senate lose these battles by one or two votes. Let me tell you tonight, the first step on the road to a Democratic Senate begins in the land of long prairies, where one can stand and see America in every direction.

The first step on the road to a Democratic Senate begins in the great state of Illinois. Since our last convention, America and my state of Illinois have lost one of their great political leaders, Senator Paul Simon. My friend, a great Democrat, a man who brought so many of us into public service. But in Illinois, we have a Senate candidate who continues in the great tradition of Paul Simon, a tradition of honesty, a tradition of fairness. Who is that candidate?

You got it. And let me tell you about this Barack Obama. He is a candidate for the Senate whose life celebrates the opportunity of America. A candidate for the Senate whose family reflects the hope of an embracing nation. A candidate for the Senate whose values rekindle our faith in a new generation. And a candidate who has the extraordinary gift to bring people together of all different backgrounds. I've seen it. I've witnessed it. In the 1970s, I served as a staffer for Paul Simon. I was sent to Cairo, Illinois, a tiny town in the southernmost part of our state. A town that was in the wake of terrible racial strife. The gulf between blacks and whites gaped wide and almost seemed hopeless.

This year, I returned to Cairo, Illinois. I found what in the 1970s would have been unthinkable, a gathering of hundreds of people, black and white, all wearing campaign buttons for Barack Obama. With this election, Illinois, the United States Senate, and America will have a man who can help heal the divisions of our nation. The next senator from the state of Illinois, Barack Obama. And here comes Barack Obama. Richard Norton Smith, a resident of the state of Illinois, lives in Springfield. How do you explain, Richard, the rise of this meteor from the land of Lincoln? A meteor is a good word, Jim. 50 years ago, an unknown

governor named Adlai Stevenson stepped out of that podium and became a national figure overnight. I suspect you may see that again tonight. A few months ago, this was a relatively obscure a member of the Illinois State Senate in a pack of six candidates for the race. The leading candidate, self-destructed. And almost overnight, people discovered Barack Obama, a kind of a prairie fire. Okay. Thank you, Richard. And now here is Barack Obama making the keynote address at this 2004 Democratic convention. Thank you, Dick Durbin. You make us all proud. On behalf of the great state of Illinois, crossroads of a nation, land of Lincoln, let me express my deepest gratitude for the privilege of addressing this convention. Tonight is a particular honor for me because, let's face it, my presence on this stage is pretty

unlikely. My father was a foreign student, born and raised in a small village in Kenya. He grew up herding goats, went to school in a tin roof shack. His father, my grandfather, was a cook, a domestic servant to the British. But my grandfather had larger dreams for his son. Through hard work and perseverance, my father got a scholarship to study in a magical place, America, that shone as a beacon of freedom and opportunity to so many who had come before. While studying here, my father met my mother. She was born in a town on the other side of the world, in Kansas. Her father worked on oil rigs and farms through most of the Depression. The day after Pearl Harbor, my grandfather signed up for duty, joined Patton's Army,

marched across Europe. Back home, my grandmother raised a baby and went to work on a bomber assembly line. After the war, they studied on the GI Bill, bought a house through FHA, and later moved west, all the way to Hawaii, in search of opportunity. And they, too, had big dreams for their daughter, a common dream born of two continents. My parents shared not only an improbable love, they shared an abiding faith in the possibilities of this nation. They would give me an African name, Barak, or Blessed, believing that in a tolerant America, your name is no barrier to success. They imagined me going to the best schools in the land, even though they weren't rich, because in a generous America, you don't have to be rich to achieve your potential.

They're both passed away now, and yet I know that on this night, they looked down on me with great pride. They stand here, and I stand here today, grateful for the diversity of my heritage, aware that my parents' dreams live on in my two precious daughters. I stand here knowing that my story is part of the larger American story, that I owe a debt to all of those who came before me, and that in no other country on Earth is my story even possible. Tonight, we gather to affirm the greatness of our nation. Not because of the height of our skyscrapers, or the power of our military, or the size of our economy, our pride is based on a very simple premise, summed up in a declaration made over 200 years ago. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,

that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That is the true genius of America. A faith in simple dreams, an insistence on small miracles, that we can tuck in our children at night and know that they are fed and clothed and safe from harm. That we can say what we think, write what we think without hearing a sudden knock on the door. That we can have an idea and start our own business without paying a bribe. That we can participate in the political process without fear of retribution, and that our votes will be counted, at least most of the time. This year, in this election, we are called to reaffirm our values and our commitments,

to hold them against a hard reality, and see how we're measuring up to the legacy of our and the promise of future generations. And fellow Americans, Democrats, Republicans, Independents, I say to you tonight, we have more work to do. More work to do for the workers I met in Galesburg, Illinois, who are losing their union jobs at the Maytag plant that's moving to Mexico, and now are having to compete with their own children for jobs to pay seven bucks an hour. More to do for the father that I met who was losing his job and choking back the tears wondering how he would pay $4,500 a month for the drugs his son needs without the health benefits that he counted on. More to do for the young woman in East St. Louis and thousands more like her who has the grades, has the drive, has the will, but doesn't have the to go to college. Now, don't get me wrong. The people I meet in small towns and big cities and

diners and office parks, they don't expect government to solve all their problems. They know they have to work hard to get ahead, and they want to. Go into the collar counties around Chicago, and people will tell you they don't want their tax money wasted by a welfare agency or by the Pentagon. Go into any inner city neighborhood, and folks will tell you that government alone can't teach our kids to learn. They know that parents have to teach that children can't achieve unless we raise their expectations and turn off the television sets and eradicate the slander that says a black youth with a book is acting white. They know those things. People don't expect government to solve all their problems, but they sense deep in their bones that with just a slight change in priorities,

we can make sure that every child in America has a decent shot at life and that the doors of opportunity remain open to all. They know we can do better, and they want that choice. In this election, we offer that choice. Our party has chosen a man to lead us who embodies the best this country has to offer, and that man is John Kerry. John Kerry understands the ideals of community, faith, and service because they've defined his life. From his heroic service to Vietnam, to his years as a prosecutor and lieutenant governor, through two decades in the United States Senate, he's devoted himself to this country. Again and again, we've seen him make tough choices when easier ones were available. His values and his record affirm what is best in us. John Kerry believes in an America where hard work is rewarded, so instead of offering tax breaks to companies shipping jobs overseas, he offers them to companies

creating jobs here at home. John Kerry believes in an America where all Americans can afford the health coverage our politicians in Washington have for themselves. John Kerry believes in energy independence, so we aren't held hostage to the profits of oil companies or the sabotage of foreign oil fields. John Kerry believes in the constitutional freedoms that have made our country the envy of the world, and he will never sacrifice our basic liberties, nor use faith as a wedge to fight us. And John Kerry believes that in a dangerous world, war must be an option sometimes, but it should never be the first option. You know, a while back, a while back I met a young man named Seamus in a VFW hall in East Moline, Illinois. He was a good-looking kid, 6'2", 6'3",

clear-eyed with an easy smile. He told me he'd joined the Marines and was heading to Iraq the following week. And as I listened to him explain why he'd enlisted, the absolute faith he had in our country and its leaders, his devotion to duty and service, I thought this young man was all that I needed. Then I asked myself, are we serving Seamus as well as he's serving us? I thought of the 900 men and women, sons and daughters, husbands and wives, friends and neighbors, who won't be returning to their own hometowns. I thought of the families I'd met who were struggling to get by without a loved one's full income, or whose loved ones had returned with a reservation. When we send our young men and women into harm's way, we have a solemn obligation not to fudge the numbers or shade the truth about why they are going, to care for their families

while they're gone, to tend to the soldiers upon their return, and to never, ever go to war without enough troops to win the war, secure the peace, and earn the respect of the world. Now let me be clear, let me be clear, we have real enemies in the world. These enemies must be found, they must be pursued, and they must be defeated. John Kerry knows this, and just as Lieutenant Kerry did not hesitate to risk his life to protect the men who served with him in Vietnam, President Kerry will not hesitate one moment to use our military might to keep America safe and secure. John Kerry believes in America, and he knows that it's not enough for just some of us to prosper. For alongside our famous individualism, there's another ingredient in the American saga,

a belief that we're all connected as one people. If there is a child on the south side of Chicago who can't read, that matters to me, even if it's not my child. If there's a senior citizen somewhere who can't pay for their prescription drugs and having to choose between medicine and the rent, that makes my life poor, even if it's not my grandparent. If there's an Arab-American family being rounded up without benefit of an attorney or due process, that threatens my civil liberties. It is that fundamental belief, it is that fundamental belief, I am my brother's keeper, I am my sister's keeper, that makes this country work. It's what allows us to pursue our individual dreams and yet still come together as one American family, e pluribus unum, out of many one. Now, even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us, the spin masters,

the negative ad peddlers, who embrace the politics of anything goes. Well, I say to them tonight, there is not a liberal America and a conservative America, there is the United States of America. There is not a black America and a white America and Latino America and Asian America, there's the United States of America. The pundits, the pundits like to slice and dice our country into red states and blue states, red states for Republicans, blue states for Democrats, but I've got news for them too. We worship an awesome God in the blue states and we don't like federal agents poking around in our libraries in the red states. We coach Little League in the blue states and yes, we've got some gay friends in the red states. There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq and there are patriots who supported the war in Iraq. We are one people,

all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America. In the end, that's what this election is about. Do we participate in a politics of cynicism or do we participate in a politics of hope? John Kerry calls on us to hope. John Edwards calls on us to hope. I'm not talking about blind optimism here, the almost willful ignorance that thinks unemployment will go away if we just don't think about it or healthcare crisis will solve itself if we just ignore it. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about something more substantial. It's the hope of slaves sitting around a fire singing freedom songs, the hope of immigrants setting out for distant shores,

the hope of a young naval lieutenant bravely patrolling the Mekong Delta, the hope of a mill worker's son who dares to defy the odds, the hope of a skinny kid with a funny name who believes America has a place for him too. Hope in the face of difficulty, hope in the face of uncertainty, the audacity of hope. In the end, that is God's greatest gift to us, the bedrock of this nation, a belief in things not seen, a belief that there are better days ahead. I believe that we can give our middle class relief and provide working families with a road to opportunity. I believe we can provide jobs to the jobless, homes to the homeless, and reclaim young people in cities across America from violence and despair. I believe that we have a righteous

wind at our backs and that as we stand on the crossroads of history, we can make the right choices and meet the challenges that face us. America, tonight, if you feel the same energy that I do, if you feel the same urgency that I do, if you feel the same passion that I do, if you feel the same hopefulness that I do, if we do what we must do, then I have no doubt that all across the country, from Florida to Oregon, from Washington to Maine, the people will rise up in November, and John Kerry will be sworn in as president, and John Edwards will be sworn in as vice president, and this country will reclaim its promise, and out of this long political darkness, a brighter day will come. Thank you very much, everybody. God bless you. Thank you. Barack Obama, Democratic candidate for Senate, United States Senate, and Illinois have just

delivered a keynote speech that I think Mark Shields and David Brooks are going to remember a while, right David? This is why you go into this business, to watch a speech like that. It's a shame that the networks aren't covering tonight because they just missed a bit of history. You agree, Mark? He lit it up. Richard said the star was being born, Jim. I mean, what he did was he recast the whole question from are you better off to are we better off? Are the strong among us more just? Are the weak among us more secure? The interconnectedness, it was brilliant, it was well delivered. The United States, I mean, I just thought it was a masterpiece. He's the only speaker who's come to this convention without any expectation because people didn't know him. They knew the biography, but nobody knew him, and boy, they know him now. But they didn't even, most people didn't even know the biography, David. I mean, the Pauls did. I mean, the people in our business and in politics. That's right. But he wove it also into a story of America so beautifully.

He spoke from himself, politically sophisticated, principally, even in delivery. The way he read the different prompters, the way he used his hands, the way he used his bodies. This is like watching Tiger Woods play his first turn. It's amazing. As he speaks to us tonight, remember, he's still a state senator in Illinois. I mean, he is not a United States senator yet. You understand now why he blew out a lot better known and more favored candidates in the Democratic primary and got 53 percent of the vote in the six-man field. And got more than 50 percent of the vote in some predominantly white areas where no minority candidate has ever done well. Because he talks about America. His story is the American story. I thought John Edwards might overshadow John Kerry. I didn't think somebody would overshadow John Edwards. Richard Norton Smith, are you still there, Richard? I am. Yeah. Well, what do you think of your man from Illinois now? Unitors and Dividers, tonight we heard from a transcender. This is the guy who transcends labels, cliches, racial, ideological, cultural, red and blue states. He mixed it all up. He reinvented it.

He gave us a whole new vision of the United States. This guy's going places. Yeah. Had you heard him speak like this before? I mean, is he this well known in Illinois for doing these kinds of things that he did tonight for the country? He is rapidly developing a reputation statewide. People talk about him quite openly as the first black president of the United States. Yeah. And I can't remember a time, Mark or David, that somebody who's not even been elected to the Senate is already, keep in mind he's only 42 years old, but is already being seen as a national leader before he's ever put his hand up and say, I do solemnly swear I will be a good United States senator. Now, nobody, and David and I were talking before, he was editor of the Harvard Low Review. Now, there are probably coveted jobs in the country and competitive jobs. The president might be second to editor of the Harvard. That is solely on the basis of merit. This is a person of enormous talent as well as charisma, appeal and eloquence. I could also just talk about his vision of the

Democratic Party, which I think is a little different from Kerry, a little different from Dean and all the fractions. He had some social conservatism there. He did. He protested Ashcroft a little. He hit a lot of different notes in a different sort of way, which was autobiographical. It was interesting intellectually as well as just charismatically. Yeah. All right. The other thing was he said they know that parents have to parent, that children cannot achieve unless we raise their expectations, turn off the television sets and eradicate the slander that says a black youth with a book is acting white. He's the only person that could have said that. He said it so well. Yeah, absolutely. All right. Now let's go back to the podium now where Congressman Rod Langevin is introducing Ron Reagan Jr. That we will find a cure. One promising path to that cure is stem cell research. And it will take not only the talent and drive of scientists, but the support of

its full potential. I believe one day a child with diabetes will no longer face a lifetime of painful shots and tests. I believe one day families will no longer watch in agony as a loved one with Parkinson's or Alzheimer's. Just a couple of things here. The Congressman is pro-life. He's the first quadriplegic to serve in Congress in the United States. He was a police cadet in a Boy Scout program at age 16 and a police officer's son accidentally went off and shot him to the upper back and throat and damaged his upper spine. The House chamber had to be redone to make it accessible beforehand. He is a supporter of stem cell research. That's the reason he's introducing Ron Reagan Jr., but he is pro-life. Our next he's using his experience to make a difference for others. He truly understands the promise of

stem cell research and I am thrilled and honored to introduce Ron Reagan. Ron Reagan Jr. is making a big point here that he's not here for partisan reasons, not political party partisan reasons. He's here because of, and he's going to say this in his speech I'm sure, because he supports stem cell research which his mother Nancy Reagan of course also supports and he's willing to explain why of course because of his possible work with Parkinson's disease and other diseases. Alzheimer's disease as well of course, which is the disease that caused the death of his father Ronald Reagan, former president Ronald Reagan. Good evening ladies and gentlemen. A few of you may be surprised to see someone with my last name showing up to speak at a Democratic convention.

Apparently some of you are not. Let me assure you I am not here to make a political speech and the topic at hand should not, must not have anything to do with partisanship. I am here tonight to talk about the issue of research into what may be the greatest medical breakthrough in our or any lifetime. The use of embryonic stem cells, cells created using the material of our own bodies to cure a wide range of fatal and debilitating illnesses. Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, lymphoma, spinal cord injuries, and much more. Millions are afflicted and every year, every day, tragedy is visited upon families across the country, around the world. Now it may be within our power to put an end to this suffering.

We only need to try. Now some of you, some of you already know what I'm talking about when I say embryonic stem cell research. Others of you are probably thinking that's quite a mouthful. Maybe this is a good time to go for a tall cold one. Well wait a minute, wait a minute. Let me try and paint as simple a picture as I can while still doing justice to the science, the incredible science involved. Let's say that 10 or so years from now you are diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. There is currently no cure and drug therapy with its attendant side effects can only temporarily relieve the symptoms. Now imagine going to a doctor who instead of prescribing drugs takes a few skin cells from your arm. The nucleus of one of your cells is placed into a donor egg whose own nucleus has been removed. A bit of chemical or electrical stimulation will encourage

your cell's nucleus to begin dividing creating new cells which will then be placed into a tissue culture. Those cells will generate embryonic stem cells containing only your DNA thereby eliminating the risk of tissue rejection. These stem cells are then driven to become the very neural cells that are defective in Parkinson's patients. And finally those cells with your DNA are injected into your brain where they will replace the faulty cells whose failure to produce adequate dopamine led to the Parkinson's disease in the first place. In other words, you're cured. And another thing, another thing, these embryonic stem cells they could continue to replicate indefinitely and theoretically can be induced to recreate virtually any tissue in your body. How do you like to have your own personal biological repair kit standing by at the hospital?

Sound like magic? Welcome to the future of medicine. Now by the way, no fetal tissue is involved in this process. No fetuses are created, none destroyed. This all happens in the laboratory at the cellular level. Now there are those who would stand in the way of this remarkable future who would deny the federal funding so crucial to basic research. They argue that interfering with the development of even the earliest stage embryo even one that will never be implanted in a womb and will never develop into an actual fetus is tantamount to murder. A few of these folks, needless to say, are just grinding up political acts and they should be ashamed of themselves. But many, many are well-meaning and sincere. Their belief is just that, an article of faith and they are entitled to it, but it does not follow that the theology of a few should be

allowed to forestall the health and well-being of the many. And how can we affirm life if we abandon those whose own lives are so desperately at risk? It is a hallmark of human intelligence that we are able to make distinctions. Yes, these cells could theoretically have the potential under very different circumstances to develop into human beings. That potential is where their magic lies, but they are not in and of themselves human beings. They have no fingers and toes, no brain or spinal cord, they have no thoughts, no fears, they feel no pain. Surely we can distinguish between these undifferentiated cells multiplying in a tissue culture and a living, breathing person, a parent, a spouse, a child. I know a child. Well, she must be 13 now. I guess I'd better call her a

She has hopes. She has juvenile diabetes. Like so many kids with this disease, she's adjusted amazingly well. The insulin pump she wears, she's decorated hers with rhinestones. She can handle her own catheter needle. She's learned to sleep through the blood drawings in the wee hours of morning. She's very brave. She is also quite bright and understands full well the progress of her disease and what that might ultimately mean. Blindness, amputation, diabetic coma. Every day she fights to have a future. What excuse will we offer this young woman should we fail her

might we tell her children or the millions of others who suffer? That when given an opportunity to help, we turned away? That facing political opposition, we lost our nerve? That even though we knew better, we did nothing? And should we fail, how will we feel if a few years from now a more enlightened generation should fulfill the promise of embryonic stem cell therapy? Imagine what they would say of us who lacked the will. No, no, we owe this young woman and all those who suffer. We owe ourselves better than that. We are better than that. We are a wiser people, a finer nation, and for all of us in this fight, let me say we will prevail. The tide of history is with us. Like all generations who have come before ours,

we are motivated by a thirst for knowledge and compelled to see others in need as fellow angels on an often difficult path deserving of our compassion. In a few months, we will face a choice. Yes, between two candidates and two parties, but more than that, we have a chance to take a giant stride forward for the good of all humanity. We can choose between the future and the past, between reason and ignorance, between true compassion and mere ideology. This is our moment and we must not falter. Whatever else you do, come November 2nd, I urge you please cast a vote for embryonic stem cell research. Thank you for your time. Ron Reagan Jr., son of the late former president, who of course was a Republican. Ron Reagan Jr.

declaring what he was saying here today was nonpartisan. Teresa Heinz-Kerry is coming up in a few moments to end the evening. We're going to be talking about her going in and coming out, but before we do, David Brooks, Mark Shields, what a public speech like this of such an occasion like this by Ron Reagan Jr., is it possible that he could put something like stem cell research on the public table more than it's there now? It is, though I think stem cell is the sleeper issue of this campaign. I've been talking to business Republican groups for the last several years, and once I always ask them about the campaign, stem cell research as an issue comes up with incredible frequency. A lot of 50-year-old men and women, they're not worried about abortions, they're worried about Alzheimer's, and this is an issue that they feel immediately affects them, so I think it's a big issue in this campaign for both parties. Issue in what way is it an issue?

Well, it's an issue for both sides of the debate. It's an issue for the people who support it, like Ron Reagan, because they see it as a health issue. It's a very powerful issue for social conservatives who are afraid we're going to be monkeying with human nature and playing God, going into cloning, going into all sorts of biotechnological avenues that we don't anticipate. You see this becoming a big issue, Mark? I do, Jim. It is a sleeper issue, and I thought it was particularly poignant that Congressman James Langevin of Rhode Island, who is pro-life on abortion, and was the person chosen to introduce the former President's son, Ron Reagan, on this subject, and I think it probably shows the fissures and the tensions in the social conservative and the pro-life side of people who are not being ideologically orthodox, and say we're opposed to all cloning, who see this, especially because he is a quadriplegic, as hope for a medical breakthrough and medical advance. But for the record, of course, John

is in favor of stem cell research, and President Bush is not, and that's the division, right? And this President has a Council on Bioethics, which has a long and complicated set of policies on this issue, some things which it supports, some things which it doesn't, but we're in the middle of a sort of intellectual debate about this. What was interesting was it really struck a spark in this column. If I just add one thing, I'll be curious to see if the scientists think Ron Reagan slightly oversold the immediacy of the possibility of a cure, which it read to me like he was overselling it. Is that right? That's what critics have said, that they're holding out too much. Too much hope? Yeah, too much hope. Okay. Well, it's clearly something we need to come back and talk about with some experts. I'm not suggesting them to or not. Thanks for being, Jim. Yeah, yeah, but we certainly will. But as I say, up next in the final speaker tonight will be Teresa Hines Carey, and Ray Suarez is ready with a closer look at her, right? Joining us, Jim, are two reporters who have covered her over the years.

Nina Easton is one of the authors of John F. Carey, the complete biography by the Boston Globe reporters who know him best, and Jim O'Toole, a political reporter at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Well, if you open your ears to Teresa Hines Carey, what do you hear her say? I'm plain spoken, I am not packaged, I say what I believe. If you had to introduce her to someone who's just waking up to the fact that she's around, Jim, what do you want them to know? I think that her own description is pretty accurate. She's not sugarcoating what she is. She's very plain spoken. She's not choreographed or kind of tweezed, and she says what she wants. And if you have a billion dollars, you can pretty much say what you want, I guess. Well, yes, but now she's the wife of a candidate for president. Has that meant any change for her? I think she's become more public in the campaign. I think she's warm to campaigning and I think connected with voters, particularly in some of the early states. I watched her a little bit in Iowa when she seemed to do very well in

small groups. Have you seen her on the trail? You know, I would add just to that characterization. I think there is a warmness and an earthiness about her that, yes, she's outspoken, but a lot of women are outspoken. Hillary Clinton was outspoken. I don't think this is something that we should be holding against a potential first lady. And in fact, people thought she was going to be much more of a loose cannon than I think she has been. A couple of years ago, she actually in the 90s, dating back to the 90s, she talked about John Kerry's prospects for running for president. She said something like, you know, isn't that crazy? There was another time a few years later where she told a reporter, in the presence of a reporter, she kept referring to my husband, John Hines, not John Kerry, her husband who is deceased. So people were really worried about what she would be like on the ticket. I don't think she's been that kind of a loose cannon that she's, yes, there was that incident this week in which she reportedly told a reporter

to shove it, and you probably know more about this than I do, but I don't think, I do think the American public will grow warm to her. Go ahead. I'm sorry, I just wanted to second that point from the sense that I don't think she's a negative in the sense that people, I think, really crave authenticity in politics. And while political managers don't like things they can't control, and she fits that category, I think her, you know, her authenticity, the fact that she is different from the mold of a carefully calculating political figure is a net plus. Not solely a plus, but a net plus. She runs a huge family foundation. Is she just the public face of that foundation or a real hands-on manager of a very large endowment? From what I understand, the latter. She's very much involved and over the years has become more involved after her

first husband's death. She's very much hands-on. She's not someone who just writes the checks. Through the Heinz Awards that she created as a memorial to her first husband and through some of the other things they do, she's very much in charge and on top of what they're doing. She's also had very, she has very, very strong views about environmental policy dating back to the early 90s. She would talk about, she was a Republican, by the way, until last year when she said she was going to switch parties solely so that she could vote for her husband in the primaries. But she hung on to that Republican tag well into the marriage. But she also talked in the kind of early mid-90s about this theory of cradle to cradle environmentalism, creating products that companies should use, like going from styrofoam to paper in your hamburger wrapper, but working with the private sector to make a more kind of environmental friendly

policy. So she was, you could see that sort of Republican, liberal Republican side to her through that. And I do think if she was First Lady, she wouldn't be a Hillary Clinton. I don't think she would run a health care policy team so overtly, but I do think she'd be tremendously influential behind the scenes, particularly on the environment, which is, by the way, another, it's an issue that drives her husband as well. He's been extremely passionate about environmental issues and they met together at an Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. That's when their relationship started. So they have that kind of policy wonk thing in common. One thing she said she would do as First Lady is continue to manage the foundations in a real hands-on way. And that would be a real unique and kind of unprecedented balancing act, but she is determined not to walk away from that to be a... So her stated public attention is to be a working wife in the White House. Absolutely. Wow. Very interesting. Nina East and Jim O'Toole, thank you both. Thank you, Ray.

Yes, thank you, Ray. In a few moments, Teresa Heinz-Kerry will be addressing this convention, but just a few moments ago, Gwen Ifill talked to the keynoter, Barack Obama, at the podium and here's that interview. So what did you think of your reception tonight? You know, everybody was so gracious. I was really just honored to have the opportunity to speak. Hopefully, I gave voice to some of the hopes and dreams that I'm hearing as I campaign around Illinois. It was as big a reception, it seemed, as Bill Clinton got last night. Did that surprise you in any way? Well, you know, it's hard to measure when you're out there because, you know, you're just trying to make sure that you, you know, don't screw up. You know, Bill is a little more comfortable in these and more accustomed to these settings, but I was obviously pleased that I stayed within my time limit and that people were very warm and gracious. It was more than staying within your time limit. You must represent something to the Democrats in this hall. What do you think that is?

You know, I think that people feel optimistic by the way we won in Illinois in the primary because I think we confounded a lot of odds that said that, you know, whites won't vote for blacks or suburbanites won't vote for a city guy or downstate people won't vote for folks from upstate. You know, we were able to bring together a coalition that said all of us have a shared set of values and even if you don't agree with me on every single thing, that I can still trust you and decide that you might be my representative. It was still kind of a remarkable unfolding of events during this primary season both in your party and the other party. Yeah. How has that kind of serendipitously affected you? Well, you know, the the primary was a hard slog. I mean, I think that sometimes people don't get enough of a sense that, you know, I was running against a guy who spent 30 million dollars as well as a sitting state official, but we were able at right at the end to pull together I think a lot of momentum that carried us into the general. Obviously since that time things have turned out in an odd way between Jack Ryan dropping out,

Mike Ditka thinking about getting in, you know, there have been a lot of twists and turns, but we're trying to stay focused on doing the same thing regardless of what happens on the other side and that is just talking about jobs, health care, education, traveling around the state, focusing on the issues that voters care about. If you look at this convention, I wonder to what degree you think that your current good fortune politically has anything to do with the 2000 recount and the echoes left over from that. Well, that's interesting. I mean, I think I hadn't thought of that, but I think that it's certainly a sense that we want basic fairness in our politics that we don't want the bitter partisanship that we've been seeing in Washington. Dick Durbin I think appropriately mentioned Paul Simon as somebody who was a mentor to me and one of the things that he always talked about is being able to disagree without being disagreeable but also insisting on fundamental fairness and our constitutional values and making sure every vote counts and so I think that probably does have an impact. I have to ask you about a quote that

contributed to you I guess in the Atlantic Monthly magazine that you said that John Kerry lacked a certain amount of oomph I think was the word. That's not what you said tonight. You know, it was four months ago that I said that in a casual conversation with a reporter where he said, how do you think John Kerry's campaign is doing right now? And this was right after the primary he had been going through a grueling battle. He was exhausted and I said, well, you know, we're going to need to pick up the pace and he has and you've seen him hit his stride all the way through to this convention. I think that the Democrats are going to come out of this place as unified and as energized as you've ever seen it. What has to happen after you leave Boston this week in order for that to happen for him and for you? Well, you know, we'll take care of Illinois but I think in those critical states which may end up determining the election, I think it's just a matter of being clear, straightforward, honest, specific about how the Democrats can provide opportunity for people who don't have it and help give relief

to those folks who've made it into the middle class but are still struggling and are feeling that they may be slipping. Senate candidate Barack Obama, thank you very much. Back to you Jim. Yes, thank you Gwen. Actually that interview was recorded a few moments ago. David Brooks and Mark Shields, we've now, that's act two of Barack Obama. We saw him make a speech and now we saw him on his feet doing an interview. Still high marks? Still high marks. I mean, what's amazing to me is how collected he was. I mean, here he is. I mean, biggest moment of his life, Jim, just had an impact. I mean, you know, this was supposed to be liberal night tonight. It's Barack Obama's night. I mean, yes, Howard Dean, Ted Kennedy and the others but I mean, sorry, they get second billing to this fellow and yet in his interview with Gwen, I mean, he was as cool and collected and there didn't seem to be any of the adrenaline still flowing as you oftentimes get in a politician. He would get very hyper, something like that. He said he was

trying to keep within his time. That's like, you know, Babe Ruth, I was just trying to hit all the bases, you know, I was just trying to run around. I was actually struck when Gwen asked him about the comment he made about John Kerry lacking oomph. He didn't really deny it. He just said, you know, I said it was a couple months ago. Let me put it in the context in which he said it. And never trust reporters. That's the other bottom line. I was just a casual comment to a reporter. Yeah, right. Yeah. Good luck on that. Okay, look, now the moment for Teresa Hines Kerry has come. She is going to be introduced by Chris Hines, Christopher Hines. He's the youngest son of Teresa Hines Kerry and her late husband, Senator John Hines of Pennsylvania. He's 31 years old and he's been the most active of the three Hines sons on the campaign trail for their stepfather, like his father and his stepfather. Chris is a Yale graduate. He majored in history. He also has an MBA from Harvard. And he, of all, as I understand it, or at least the reading is that he's one of the probably the most politically inclined of the of the Hines kids. Is that what you all understand

as well? He is the heir apparent to taking on Barack Obama. No, I mean, people talk about him as just this great political property. He's likeable, charming, appealing guy. And here he is. Good evening. It's an honor to be here tonight to introduce my mother, Teresa Hines Kerry. But first, I'd like to say how proud I am of my stepfather and how honored I am to serve this cause. When my mom first introduced me to John, I said to myself, Self, the only man good enough for your mother is the President of the United States. I think it's going to work out. More seriously, last week, our family lost a dear friend, Joe Clark. Joe had worked with our family

for 35 years since July of 1966. It was family. Joe first met my mom when she was newly married and pregnant with my oldest brother. Digesting the loss of our friend, my mom and I spoke last week of their first meeting in Washington at the beginning of her American journey. We talked about the 38 years that had passed in her life. And as Joe would say, all them changes. You see, in 66, my mom was new to America, having recently arrived from her native home of Mozambique. Bright, 27 years young and speaking five, five languages as a trained translator. She'd met him She'd met a man from Pittsburgh, fallen in love, and moved to the United States to start a new life. And as so frequently happens in this country, as an immigrant, she took America and its opportunities and freedoms for all their worth, both as a mother and as an engaged progressive

person. In a long career dedicated to improving the lives of others, her finest work has been stewardship of the Heinz Endowment since my father's death in 1991. She is a true visionary. The New York Times has referred to her as one of the nation's leading philanthropists. But don't take their word for it, or mine, because I'm definitely biased. Simply go ask the residents of Western Pennsylvania and beyond about her tireless efforts to protect our environment, promote the arts, improve education, and broaden economic opportunity, particularly for women. I'll bet they vouch for me. My mother's political From joining the first Pennsylvania Women's Political Caucus in 1972 to more recently fighting

for health care and prescription drugs for seniors, my mom has set an example that's hard to follow. In total, she's campaigned in seven successful congressional races as a spouse to two wonderful men. Indeed, my mom's political accomplishments and experience are so varied and so recognized that in 1991, after my father's death, prominent members of the Republican Party urged her to run for the Senate. Of course, none of these achievements define her as my mother, not through the prism of a son's eyes. I'm blessed to see and know so much more about this remarkable woman. My memories run deep. Flashes of her packing my lunch, applying a sending me off to college, or serving as a very necessary first line of defense against some aggressive older brothers. While it's impossible for me to share my full sentiments here with you all, let me just say this. My mother and my heart and mind is a force. Spiritual,

organic, and loving. Smart, funny, and wise. If, as her son, I can be any two of those things in my I'll be lucky. Oh, and by the way, if I look that good at 65, I'll be doubly blessed. But in the meantime, I'm blessed to be a part of her life and her American journey. Mom, I love you. And on behalf of my stepfather, my father, and my dear friend Joe, it gives me great pleasure to introduce the nation to someone I hope and believe will be the next First Lady of the United States, Teresa Hines Carey. Thank you very much. That's a great voice. Chris Hines introducing his mother, Teresa Hines Carey. There she is.

As her son just explained, a woman with the most interesting background, born in Mozambique to Portuguese parents. She grew up in Africa. She speaks five languages and will probably demonstrate it in her speech. Senator Carey has said that her status as a naturalized citizen gives her a special insight into the American political process. She says she knows what the alternatives are. Here she is. Thank you. I love you too. Thank you. Thank you, Christopher. Your father would be very proud of you and your brothers.

And I love you. And I love our family. My name is Teresa Hines Carey. And by now, I hope it will come as no surprise that I have something to say. Tonight, as I have done throughout this campaign, I would like to speak to you from the heart.

To all Americans, to all Italians, to the whole Portuguese family, and to Brazilians as well. And to all the continental Africans living in this country and to all the new Americans in our country, I invite you to join in our conversation and together with us, work towards the noblest purpose of all, a free, good, and democratic society.

I am grateful. I am so grateful for the opportunity to stand before you and to say a few words about my husband, John Carey, and why I firmly believe that he should be the next president of the United States. This is such a powerful moment for me. Like many other Americans, like many of you, and like even more, your parents and grandparents, I was not born in this country. And as you have seen, I grew up in East Africa, in Mozambique,

in a land that was then under a dictatorship. My father, a wonderful, caring man who practiced medicine for 43 years and who taught me how to understand disease and wellness, only got to vote for the first time when he was 73 years old. That's what happens in dictatorships. As a young woman, I attended Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg, South Africa, which was then not segregated. But I witnessed the weight of apartheid everywhere around me. And so with my fellow students, we marched in the streets of Johannesburg against its extension into higher education. This was the late 1950s, at the dawn of the civil rights marches in America.

And as history records, our efforts in South Africa failed, and the Higher Education Apartheid Act passed. Apartheid tightened its ugly grip. The Sharpsville riots followed, and Nelson Mandela was arrested and sent to Robben Island. I learned something then, and I believe it still. There is a value in taking a stand whether or not anybody may be noticing it, and whether or not it is a risky thing to do. And if even in those who are in danger can raise their lonely voices,

isn't it more that is required of all of us in this land where liberty had her birth? And so, I have a very personal feeling about how special America is. And I know how precious freedom is. It is a sacred gift sanctified by those who have lived it, and those who have died defending it. My right to speak my mind, to have a voice, to be what some have called opinionated, is a right I deeply and profoundly cherish.

And my only hope is that one day soon, women who have all earned their right to their opinions, instead of being called opinionated, will be called smart and well-informed, just like men. Tonight, I want to remember my mother's warmth, generosity, wisdom, and hopefulness, and thank her for all the sacrifices she made on our behalf.

Like so many other mothers. And this evening, I want to acknowledge and honor the women of this world whose wise voices, for much too long, have been excluded and discounted. It is time, it is time for the world to hear women's voices in full and at last. In the past year, I have been privileged to meet with Americans all across this land. They voiced many different concerns, but one they all share was about America's role in the world,

what we want this great country of ours to stand for. To me, one of the best faces America has ever projected is the face of a Peace Corps volunteer. That face symbolizes this country, young, curious, brimming with idealism and hope, and a real, honest compassion. Those young people convey an idea of America that is all about heart, creativity, generosity, and confidence, a practical can-do sense, and a big, big smile. For many generations of people around this globe, that is what America has represented. A symbol of hope, a beacon brightly lit

by the optimism of its people, people coming from all over the world. Americans believed that they could know all there is to know, build all there is to build, break down any barrier, tear down any wall. We sent men to the moon, and when that was not far enough, we sent Galileo to Jupiter, we sent Cassini to Saturn, and Hubble to touch the very edges of the universe in the very dawn of time. Americans showed the world what can happen when people believe in amazing possibilities, and that, for me, is the spirit of America, the America you and I are working for in this election. It is the America that people all

across this nation, and want to restore from Iowa to California, from Florida to Michigan, and from Washington state to my home of Pennsylvania. Now, it is the America the world wants to see, shining, hopeful, and bright once again, and that is the America that my husband, John Kerry, wants to lead. John believes in a bright future. He believes that we can and will invent the technologies, the new materials, and the conservation methods of the future. He believes that alternative fuels will guarantee that not only will no American boy or girl go to war because of our dependence on foreign oil,

but also that our economy will forever become independent of this need. We can and we will create good, competitive, and sustainable jobs while still protecting the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the health of our children, because good environmental policy is good economics. John believes that we can and we will give every family and every child access to affordable health care, a good education, and the tools to become self-reliant. And John believes that we

must and we should recognize the immense value of the caregivers in our country, those women and men who nurture and care for children, for elderly parents, for family members in need. These are people who build and support our most valuable assets, our families. Isn't it time that we began working to give parents more opportunity with their children? And wouldn't it be wonderful for parents to be able to afford a full and good family life? With John Kerry as president, we can and we will

protect our nation's security without sacrificing our civil liberties. In short, John believes that we can and we must lead the world as America, unique among nations, always should by showing the face, not of its fears, but of our hopes. And John is a fighter. He earned his medals the old-fashioned way. By putting his life on the line for his country, and no one will defend this nation

more vigorously than he will, and he will always, always be first in the line of fire. But he also knows the importance of getting it right. For him, the names of many friends inscribed in the Vietnam Memorial, that cold stone, testify to the awful toil exacted by leaders who mistake stubbornness for strength. And that is why, as president, my husband will not fear disagreement or dissent. He believes that our voices, yours and mine, must be the voices of freedom.

And if we do not speak, neither does she. In America, the true patriots are those who dare speak truth to power. And the truth that we must speak now is that America has responsibilities that it is time for us to accept again. With John Kerry as president, global climate change and other threats to the health of our planet will begin to be reversed. With John Kerry as president, the alliances that bind the community of nations and that truly make our country and the world a safer place will be strengthened once more. And the Americans John and I have met

in the course of this campaign all want America to provide hopeful leadership again. They want America to return to its moral bearings. And it is not a moralistic America they seek. It is a moral nation that understands and willingly shoulders its obligations. A moral nation that rejects thoughtless and greedy choices in favor of thoughtful and generous actions. And it is a moral nation that leads through the power of its ideas and the power of its example. We can and we should join together to make the most of this great gift

that we have all been given. This gift of freedom and this gift of America. In his first inaugural speaking to a nation on the eve of war, Abraham Lincoln said, we must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land will yet swell the chorus of the union when again touched as surely they will be by the better angels of our nature.

Today, the better angels of our nature are just waiting to be summoned. We only require a leader who is willing to call on them. A leader willing to draw again the mystic chords of our national memory and remind us of all that we as a people, everyday leaders, can do. Of all that we as a nation stand for and of all the immense possibility that still lies ahead. John Kerry said, I think I've found that guy. And I'm married to him. John Kerry will give us back our faith in America.

He will restore our faith in ourselves and in the sense of limitless opportunity that has always been America's gift to the world. Together, we will lift everyone up. We have to. It's possible and you know what? It's the American thing to do. Good night and God bless you. Teresa Heinz Kerry addressing a democratic convention that will nominate her husband to be president of the United States. Her last line, or I should say the next to last line, David, it's the American thing to do. Do you think that is a

un-American thing that got her in the shove it problem? Well, are you sensing a theme through the evening that they were kind of patriotic here in this party? Yeah, no, that's been the theme. I thought she started out very strong, very personal. The stuff about women's role in society, I thought was very strong. I then thought it drained away a little. And she, you know, this convention, one of the purposes was to show John Kerry was commander in chief. One of the other purposes was to get people to connect personally with the guy. And here's a woman who's married to him who sees him in a very personal way. She doesn't share that. I think that's a missed opportunity. What do you think, Mark? I do agree with David that I thought there might be more of a personal testimony or sort of a peek into him, an anecdote or two about John Kerry that she, Teresa Heinz, could have told us that none of us would have seen. It was a wonky speech in many respects. A lot of substance to it about royal independence and foreign policy, and leaders who mistake stubbornness for strength. You know, this night, really to a large degree,

and her speech as an immigrant, and she is an immigrant, it was largely about the Democrats evoking the symbols, the language, the values of patriotism and, you know, refusing to cede that rhetorically or politically to their opponents. I mean, you know, I thought, you know, it ran through every speech, including the memorable keynote by Barack Obama. I'm sorry, go ahead. I just don't think most people, that's an issue for most people. Democrats seem very defensive on whether they're patriotic. I think most people assume Democrats are patriotic. I think it's a theme that's not the important theme to push. I want to come back, so we'll talk in a minute about the whole evening, but just about Teresa Hines' Kerry speech. Did you have the feeling, David, that one of the, it was wonky, to use the term, it was a wonky speech, but that she was, that was part of what she wanted to say. She's a serious person. She's not a first lady. I'm not

going to tell you little stories about my husband. I'm going to tell you about issues. Right. No, I understand the impulse behind it, but, you know, it's not about her. It's about John Kerry, and she had some role, and you don't have to do it in the loving, you know, Tammy Wynette. Why, you can say it, tell a story about the guy that is personal, because that's what he needs. Okay. Well, look, let's go now up to Gwen Ifill for a look at what's coming here at this convention on night three, tomorrow night. Gwen. Well, Jim, the big night, the big night so far. Last night, Bill Clinton tonight, Barack Obama. There was kind of a subdued response here in the hall for Teresa Hines' Kerry, but they're all probably saving their energy for tomorrow night. John Edwards, the vice presidential likely nominee, presumed nominee, arrived in town tonight in Boston, and tomorrow will be his night. First, however, the convention delegates will hear from Al Sharpton, of course, ran for president from New York. Bob Graham, the senator from Florida, who also ran for president. Then Jennifer Granholm, another rising star, the governor of Michigan, and then some military people who are supporting John Kerry. And finally, Elizabeth Edwards,

the lawyer attorney, retired attorney, as she describes herself, wife of John Edwards, will introduce her husband, and he will be the big speaker tomorrow night. So that's what's happened tonight, and that's what we're expecting tomorrow on day three. Okay. Thank you, Gwen, for tonight, and we'll see you again tomorrow night. And now some closing thoughts on this evening from Mark Shields and David Brooks, Richard Norton Smith, Michael Beschloss, and Ellen Fitzpatrick. Michael, let's start with you. What struck you about this evening? What will you remember most about it? Two words, Barack Obama. This is the beginning of his national career, and if we're doing this in a few conventions, Jim, I think we will look back on this night as the one that led to his presence on a future Democratic national ticket. You know, we were talking a little bit earlier about which keynote speeches in history work. A lot of them don't. Think of Mario Cuomo, 1984. He was the one who said that Ronald Reagan was bringing us to two different cities, a tale of two cities, two Americans that were very different, only one of which was benefiting

from Ronald Reagan. And Barbara Jordan in 1976, the strength of her personal story, a woman who was descended from slaves yet who had helped to bring Richard Nixon out of office when he had committed crimes. This combined all of that, and maybe one of the acid tests of a keynote speech is does it start, does it lead to a future presidential campaign? And for Barack Obama, that's my bet tonight. Ellen, what would you, do you see it as a Barack Obama night as well? I think it was a wonderful night for the Democratic Party in showing to its traditional base that the concerns of the party are still there, the emphasis on jobs, on growth, on security, on opportunity of a better America, and on new leadership, both the old, the liberal invocation of the liberal standard bearer from Ted Kennedy, and then the future in this young man with such tremendous promise. But you saw the same promise there with Obama that Michael does, right? I thought it was an electrifying speech. Richard, you've already come down on that. Anything you

want to add to that? Anything to the evening generally or about Obama? Well, you know, it's interesting. I think Thomas Jefferson, the father of the Democratic Party, wrote a famous letter in which he contrasted his head and his heart. And I thought about that analogy. You know, those who were watching last night saw a party very much controlled by its head, very disciplined, very on message, very choreographed. In fact, frankly, it felt like a Republican convention. Tonight, you heard a party speaking from and to its heart. I mean, beginning with the un-reconstructed champion of old-fashioned liberalism, unapologetic, assertive as ever, Ted Kennedy, and then, as you said, an electrifying debut by the next generation of Democratic leader. And then finally, Theresa Heinz Kerry, who, in her own words, spoke from, and I suspect to, millions of hearts as well. Okay. David? Yeah, I hear the Richard. It was a good night. I think it was better than the first night because it wasn't established polls. It was either polls

at the beginning of a career or at the end of a career. I thought Dick Gephardt is worth bringing up. Gave a very fine speech. Kennedy, of course. So I thought it was a good night. The only caution I would say on Obama is politics is not like sports. It's not like you burst on the scene and suddenly you're at the top of the game. It's something that just takes decades. And a lot can happen. There have been a lot of promising seats, maybe not quite as promising as what we just saw, but this is going to be a career over decades that he really has to prove himself. But I thought it was a good, and as the historian said, a good, genuine night. The only I would caution about and the way they failed is in talking about the future. They keep saying there's a campaign about the future, but that means you've got to have very four or five clear policies what you want to do if you're elected. And we've been through half the convention now, and they haven't even begun to achieve that. So that's got to be the next two nights. Mark, what do you think? I take exception to old fashion as describing liberalism. I think one could say permanent. Permanent liberalism. One could say unchanging values of liberalism. It was evocative, Jim, of the values of liberalism

that is summed up in those in the dawn of life. The children are concerned, those in the twilight of life, the elderly, those in the shadows of life, the handicapped and the disabled. Remind that we are all the human family. That constant tension in American history between individualism, which we worship, and the sense of community and our interdependence upon each other. And I thought it was raised well here tonight. It's a value that distinguishes, I think Democrats distinguish themselves, define themselves that way. I thought Barack Obama tied the two together, the sense of what the individual responsibility, the individual opportunity, as well as the communal obligations and reciprocal obligations we all owe to each other. I would just point out on the question of our good friends, the historians who have ready to go to his inauguration, the following people, Senator Frank Church, Senator Mark Hatfield, Senator Richard Lugar, Henry Cabot Lodge, Douglas MacArthur, John Glenn, Howard Baker Jr,

Harold Stanton, Mario Cuomo, Bill Bradley, Phil Graham, all gave wonderful, memorable, differing, Bob Graham, Bob Graham, Phil Graham of Texas. They all wanted to be president, they all gave inaugurated, they all gave keynote addresses, they all fought elbows and knees to get that spot, and none of them, I think, has ever presided over an inaugural parade. Take that, historians. Yeah, a little tension here, a little tension between the president and the past. Sounds pretty old fashioned to me. What did you say, Richard? Sounds pretty old fashioned to me. I see. One final question, Mark and David, about Obama. Do you perceive him, David, as a special figure, or the party just needs some new leader like that right now? In other words, is he fit at need more than he's a special figure? He fits needs at night, and everyone loves the rookie who has great skills. If he wins the Senate, which he almost certainly will, he'll get in with a couple of big egos, maybe a 199 other,

and he'll start at the bottom. It's going to be a long, tough campaign, and he's not going to be the most popular guy in the Senate when he enters with his star quality. His star quality will go