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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees

360 Coverage Of Democratic National Convention

Aired July 29, 2004 - 19:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


ANDERSON COOPER, HOST: Good evening from Boston. I'm Anderson Cooper.
The final night of the Democratic National Convention. John Kerry makes his pitch to be president.

360 starts now.

Tonight, John Kerry takes center stage, a 55-minute address designed to win over undecided voters. The speech is ready, but can this candidate deliver?

Vice president Dick Cheney swings a punch saying Kerry can't protect the country. Is this race about to get nastier?

You've heard the speeches. But what happened to the controversy? Iraq, abortion, gay marriage -- why are some Democrats not saying these words?

The packaging of a presidential candidate. Have the Democrats figured out how to sell John Kerry? We talk live with former candidates Howard Dean and General Wesley Clark.

Cable's got the convention covered. But what's happened to the big three news networks? We go 360 with ABC News anchor Peter Jennings.

And he's here, there, and everywhere, Michael Moore, basking in the convention spotlight. Love him or hate him, we don't care. But is anyone else tired of him yet? Moore's the merrier, but tonight, he's overkill.

ANNOUNCER: This is a special edition of ANDERSON COOPER 360, live from the Democratic National Convention in Boston.

COOPER: Good evening.

In newsrooms around the country, writers are breathing a sigh of relief. Now no one has to call John Kerry the Democrats' presumptive candidate any more. He is the Democratic Party's candidate in fact, having won the nomination in a roll-call vote of state delegations last night.

All that remains now, of course, is for Senator Kerry to accept that nomination. As you can see, the house is already packed. There is no tension about his accepting. That is the grand finale, of course, tonight. The question that remains to be answered at this hour, is, will Kerry close the deal? Meaning, can he convince those sitting on the fence, you at home, in towns large and small, can he convince you that he's the person you should vote for?

Tonight, joining me, Howard Dean, Wesley Clark, Peter Jennings, and many, many more.

But first, we bring you the latest developments.

Frank Buckley has a preview of Kerry's speech tonight. Details just released. Kathleen Koch is covering how the White House is preparing for the campaign that follows.

And for an overview of what will happen in the hours ahead, we begin with CNN's Candy Crowley -- Candy.

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, I'm told by our crack research department that we have now heard 167 speeches over the last three and a half days. But you shouldn't think of them as separate speeches, just one long drum roll.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CROWLEY (voice-over): Of the 186 speeches on the schedule, we're getting down to the one that matters. Wearing his casual clothes and What, me worry? look, John Kerry checked out the digs this morning. For three days, friends, family, and like-minded politicos have talked about how great he is, how strong, how decisive.

All Kerry has to do this evening is prove it.

There will be some policy, we're told, but mostly tonight is about the vibe, says Camp Kerry. People will see him as presidential.

Fun continues on the Teresa watch, where the women's caucus got so carried away, someone suggested she run for president. Teresa deferred to a Republican.

TERESA HEINZ KERRY, JOHN KERRY'S WIFE: Arnold comes before me because he's governor, I'm not. And they have to change the law, and I'd be too old too.

COOPER: Actually the presidential hurdle for Teresa is not chronological but geographical. She wasn't born here, neither was Arnold.

All in all, save for Ms. Heinz Kerry telling a reporter to shove it and a burst of unscripted Al Sharpton, the whole affair feels like Christmas when you wrap your own presents. The thrill is gone, but it looks great.

One of the final acts in this no-dissent, no-distractions unreality show is a bioflick of the candidate's life put together by an Oscar-winning film director. Perfect.

(END VIDEOTAPE) CROWLEY: Just to keep you up to date, Anderson, on the statistics, we started out with on Monday the 100,000 balloons. They are still up there. And when they come down, everybody goes home.

COOPER: Candy Crowley, thanks very much.

Unscripted Al Sharpton, you said. I think that's sort of, that's redundant. I think Al Sharpton's pretty much always unscripted. And we'll actually talk about that a little bit later on in the program.

Time to drill down a bit right now. Some details of the candidate's speech. We know it's going to be long, 55 minutes at least. The question is, will it do the job?

For that, here is CNN's Frank Buckley.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Senator John Kerry took to the podium earlier today for a technical walk-through.

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I am really looking forward (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...

BUCKLEY: For the real thing, he'll talk about national security, values, and the successes of the economy in the 1990s, according to excerpts of the senator's speech released late today.

On national security, Kerry invokes his service as a decorated swiftboat commander in Vietnam. "I defended this country as a young man," he says, "and I will defend it as president. Let there be no mistake, I will never hesitate to use force when it is required."

And Kerry will deliver a line about war that he frequently delivers while campaigning.

KERRY: The great United States of America, our beloved country, never goes to war because it wants to. We go to war because we have to.

BUCKLEY: On values, Kerry will say, "Values are not just words. They are what we live by. They are about the causes we champion and the people we fight for. And it is time for those who talk about family values to start valuing families."

MARK OWENS, OHIO DELEGATE: I think it will be a very good speech. I think that he's, again, I think he's going to fill in the blanks for a lot of undecided voters tonight.

BUCKLEY: If Senator Kerry is nervous about the most important speech of his life, he isn't showing it. He went for a bike ride late this afternoon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BUCKLEY: Immediately after the ride, or immediately after the speech, Senator Kerry expected to go to attend a fireworks display here in Boston. Then he embarks on a coast-to-coast tour of campaigning, 21 states, over 3,500 miles. And he'll be (UNINTELLIGIBLE), doing some of those states with John Edwards, the first states on the agenda, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio, Anderson.

COOPER: Frank, thanks very much for that.

The Kerry-Edwards bank account is getting a big boost during the convention. Here's a 360 fast fact for you. The campaign says it has raised more than $3.2 million at JohnKerry.com yesterday. One day. That is the most donations online ever in one day. The times certainly are a-changin'.

This year alone, the Kerry-Edwards campaign has raised $75 million online. So far its total fundraising amount is $186.2 million, five times that of any other Democratic presidential contender in history. Although, of course, the history of the Internet has -- (audio interrupt)

... well, no, not the president. The president is not at -- (audio interrupt)

... and what comes next, may get nasty indeed. Kathleen Koch reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As President Bush returns to Washington, he immediately hits the campaign trail, a spokesman saying the president will debut a retooled stump speech, with fewer attacks and more details on his vision for the next four years, all a stark contrast to his week out of the spotlight, biking and poring over the 9/11 commission report.

President Bush met three times via secure videoconference with the task force he named to analyze the commission's recommendations. Wednesday, a White House spokesman says, they are moving quickly, and making, quote, "great progress," with presidential action predicted as early as tomorrow.

TRENT DUFFY, WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN: There are recommendations that have the potential to be put into place quickly. And the president, as I said, would waste no time in doing that. But these are very big issues.

KOCH: While President Bush followed tradition, ceding media attention to the Democrats in Boston, the vice president kept pushing the campaign's message in appearances for Republican candidates.

DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The team meeting this week in Boston would repeal many of the Bush tax cuts within their first 100 days in office. What we're hearing from the other side is the failed thinking of the past. And we're not going back.

KOCH: Mr. Bush's plan now is to go back to battleground states, covering four in a two-day campaign swing.

STUART ROTHMAN, POLITICAL ANALYST: I think he simply needs to get ready for New York, when the Republicans have to show who they are, what they are going to do, what they have done so far, and why George W. Bush needs to be reelected.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOCH: A Bush-Cheney campaign spokesman told me this afternoon that while they do expect to see challenger John Kerry get a bounce out of the convention, a bounce in the polls, that they plan to counter it. Spokesman Scott Stanzel (ph) said that President Bush has a very aggressive campaign schedule planned in August, emphasizing a different theme each and every week. And they believe that will erase any advantage that crops up by Labor Day, Anderson.

COOPER: Kathleen Koch, thanks very much.

One of the many scenes here. You see a lot of people here at the convention. One of them, Amarosa, is from "The Apprentice." I'm not quite sure what she's doing here, but she is making herself known. There she is once again.

Coming up, 360 next, he is taking center stage at the podium tonight. I don't think he even watched "The Apprentice." And he is joining us live, Wesley Clark, one-time presidential candidate. What does he think John Kerry can do about Iraq that George Bush can't? We'll ask him.

Also, Howard Dean live. Always been outspoken, always unpredictable, but have the Democrats muzzled themselves too much this week? I'll ask him that.

And Michael Moore, anywhere there's a camera, there's Moore. Love him or hate him, we got Moore overkill.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: And as you can see, the place is very crowded. A lot of people very excited to hear John Kerry here tonight later on.

In almost every speech here at the convention, John Kerry's military resume comes up. The message, he chose to serve his country. He earned three Purple Hearts in Vietnam. And because of that, he is the best man to lead the charge in the war on terror. That is what they are saying. That is the message they are trying to reinforce.

Last night, a parade of 12 retired admirals and generals, including two former chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and former presidential candidate General Wesley Clark, came to the convention stage. Tonight, General Clark will once again be onstage around 8:15, this time to talk up Kerry on his own. He joins me now.

General, good to see you tonight.

GEN. WESLEY CLARK (RET.) (D), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Good to see you, Anderson.

COOPER: What makes John Kerry's position on Iraq now different than what George Bush's position is now?

CLARK: Well, John Kerry has been consistent on Iraq. George Bush has slid to John Kerry's position, driven by necessity, driven by the failure of their ideological rightwing approach.

COOPER: Arguably, though, and what Republicans would say, if they (UNINTELLIGIBLE), I mean, they disagree with that, but they'll say, Look, that's in the past. Right now, on the ground, what would John Kerry do differently to either get us out of the situation or to improve the situation?

CLARK: Well, what John Kerry's going to do is work with the other powers in the region in a way that George Bush can't. And he's...

COOPER: Why can't? What, what, how, What is he going to do? I mean, I know John Kerry speaks French, but beyond that...

CLARK: Well, what we got to have is, we've got to have a regional dialog. What the Republican administration did was set up a -- they set up a series of conflict problems in the region, like the Syrians. They think that they are going to be attacked by the United States as soon as we finish with Iraq.

The Iranians are trying to get a nuclear weapon in part to -- because they want great power, but in part they think they are next on the U.S. hit list.

What John Kerry's going to try to do is persuade all these countries that it's in their interest to work together for stability, for democracy, and not to engage in regional conflict.

COOPER: But basing the difference on the idea that he may be able to persuade them more convincingly than George Bush was, I mean, that's, there are a lot of ifs in there. There's a lot of sort of assumptions in there.

CLARK: But it's a huge difference, because it's a fundamental difference in the approach of what the Republicans have done. But they are...

COOPER: You say they've tainted the water, they've tainted the pool, they can't do it any more.

CLARK: Not only that, but they are unilateralist by preference. Their view of the world is, Hey, we're a big powerful country, we get what we want. We don't care about anybody else unless we have to. What the Democrats will do is work together with other countries to show it's in their interest to help us attain our interest.

COOPER: Should John Kerry tonight and will John Kerry tonight, in your opinion, go into specifics about -- I mean, their speech is 55 minutes long. Will there be a lot of specifics? Or should he avoid that? Should he sort of stand back and speak in more general terms about policy, about Iraq? Because we have not heard the I-word very much, Iraq. I mean, it's literally been mentioned, you know, a couple dozen times in all the, the more than 100 or so speeches.

CLARK: Well, he's laid out the general lines. But the details of day-to-day activities are the Republicans' problem right now. And John Kerry and his advisers are not getting the information on that to be able to answer it day by day.

You know, that terrible truck bomb that went off yesterday and killed almost 70 people, we are not getting the intelligence that would say, Well, you know, if you just position the police up the street more closely, if you just had two more American patrols in the area, if you just had helicopters overhead, and then you need more helicopters, et cetera -- that stuff, that level of detail is not John Kerry's. It's not his problem.

It's George Bush's problem. And what the American people are seeing increasingly is that the administration just hasn't been very competent in dealing with the problem with Iraq after the conflict.

COOPER: We look forward to hearing your speech around 8:15.

CLARK: Eight-eleven.

COOPER: Eight-eleven, all right, all right, good.

CLARK: It's all precise.

COOPER: General Clark, thanks very much.

CLARK: Thank you, Anderson.

COOPER: Well, 360 next, Kerry's kids on the campaign trail. You've seen some of them in the spotlight, but what about the ones you have never seen? That ahead.

Also tonight, he was one of the first Democrats out against the war, and now he's backing John Kerry, and didn't even use the word Iraq in his convention speech. We'll ask him, is he being muzzled?

And a little later, veteran anchorman Peter Jennings of ABC News. Did the network drop the ball by dropping convention coverage down to three hours? I'll ask him.

360 next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: And the (UNINTELLIGIBLE), the crowds are gathering here at the FleetCenter anticipating a very exciting night indeed. Tonight, the children and stepchildren of John Kerry will do what a political family is expected to do, try to make their dad look good. Of course, Kerry's kids aren't really kids any more. They range in age from 27 to 37. They're an extended family, the product of a tragic death and emotional divorce. Yet these days, their focus is on one thing, getting John Kerry elected.

CNN's Dan Lothian gives us a look at a -- the Democratic ticket's version of, well, you might say, the Brady Bunch.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The one day when this lady met this fellow, John and Teresa, all right, no hunch, no bunch, just a modern American blended family. The Kerry girls, Alexandra and Vanessa, the Heinz boys, Andre and Chris. Oh, and John IV, who doesn't like to have his picture taken.

All children of senators, two different senators, all grown adults when John and Teresa walked down the aisle nine years ago.

ALEXANDRA KERRY, JOHN KERRY'S DAUGHTER: That part, we practiced.

LOTHIAN: Alex and Vanessa Kerry have been at their father's side throughout the campaign, though both have their own full plates of priorities. Alex just completed film school. One of her movies showed at Cannes this year.

KERRY: Vanessa?

VANESSA KERRY: Yes.

KERRY: Are they making lacrosse sticks that short now? Or those are (UNINTELLIGIBLE)?

VANESSA KERRY: Oh, no, that's a kid one.

LOTHIAN: Her younger sister, Vanessa, is a Harvard med student. Neither has expressed interest in getting into their father's line of work.

CHRIS HEINZ, JOHN KERRY'S STEPSON: I just flew in from California, and I was down there in Santa Monica, and it was, like, 85 degrees.

LOTHIAN: Not so for Chris Heinz, the youngest son of Teresa and the late Senator John Heinz. He's flirting with a political future, and with his movie star looks and charisma on the Kerry campaign trail, he's seen as a rising star.

Teresa's middle son, Andre, has been less visible on the stump. He lives mainly in Sweden, where he's an environmental consultant. But he's upped his appearances and is on the road with his stepfather this week.

And then there is John Heinz's namesake, John IV, a Pennsylvania teacher. He shuns the spotlight.

ALEXANDRA KERRY: Sometimes we feel like rock stars. LOTHIAN: They are greeted that way on the trail, savvy campaigners injecting a little hip into their father, or stepfather's, campaign.

Dan Lothian, CNN, Boston.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Well, joining me next live right after the break, former governor of Vermont Howard Dean, former Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean, he joins me live. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: And welcome back 360's special coverage of the final night of the Democratic National Convention here at the FleetCenter in Boston, Massachusetts.

Talk about batting cleanup. After all has been said and done, and a great deal has been said in hundreds of speeches over the last four days, it's going to now be John Kerry's turn to stand up before the delegates who have made him their nominee and to convince them that they have done the right thing.

Others tonight will speak about the candidate first, his daughter Vanessa, General Wesley Clark, Senator Joe Lieberman, Max Cleland of Georgia, among many others.

And then, at about 10:30 this evening Eastern time, John Kerry, Democratic candidate for the presidency of the United States, will at long last speak for himself.

Joining us now is the man a lot of people thought early on, at least, would be making the big speech this evening, the former governor of Vermont, Howard Dean.

Appreciate you being here.

Are we going to hear from John Kerry a lot tonight specifics about Iraq? Because the I-word has not been used here. You didn't even use Iraq in your speech.

HOWARD DEAN (D-VT), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) should he?

COOPER: I'm sorry, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) told, we -- we got to have -- we got a problem with your mike. If we're going to fix it, and just quickly go to "CROSSFIRE." We will be rejoined by Dr. Dean in just a few moments.

A lot of talk at the podium has been about Vietnam and John Kerry's brave military service there more than 35 years ago. As for today's military situation, Iraq has been mentioned, but critics say the Kerry-Edwards isn't giving any specifics.

Let's go now to the "CROSSFIRE" guys, to Paul Begala and to Tucker Carlson, get their take on this.

Paul, I understand you have some information about how John Kerry is going to address the issue of waffling, which has been something the Republicans have been using against him.

PAUL BEGALA, CO-HOST, "CROSSFIRE": Well, it's very interesting, Anderson. He can't just say, I'm not a waffler, right? He needs to answer that with style as well as substance.

One of the reasons the waffler charge sticks on John Kerry is that he speaks in long, complicated, dependent clauses. Tonight's speech, and I've got some excerpts from it, has a lot of short, powerful declarative sentences like this. "I defended this country as a young man, and I will defend it as president," period. "Let there be no mistake. I will never hesitate to use force when it was required," period. "Any attack will be met with a swift and certain response," period.

A lot of short, powerful declarative sentences will let the audience see what Kerry wants them to see, that he is, in fact, a very decisive and strong leader. So he's answering the waffling charge with style as well as substance.

COOPER: Tuck...

TUCKER CARLSON, CO-HOST, "CROSSFIRE": I'm not, I'm not sure Kerry's problem is one that's rooted in syntax. I mean, I actually think he has a lovely command of the language. He speaks in perfect sentences, which I personally enjoy listening to.

The problem is, he changed his position on another of -- a number of key issues. But I think the more important and significant charge is not that he's a waffler, but that he is airy, that he gives no specifics at all.

And I think the speech, in the end, will be judged on the answer to this question, What are we going to do in Iraq? We're going to have 140,000 troops there on November 2. Should we bring them back? Should we keep them there? If so, when will we know when it's time to bring them home? I think he needs to address that at least, if not answer it tonight.

COOPER: Paul, have the Democratic leaders been putting too much of a muzzle on some of these speakers? I mean, we have not heard Iraq talked about. We have not heard words like gay used, abortion, some of the things which, in past conventions, you've heard about.

BEGALA: Well, when Ronald Reagan -- I think the Reagan campaign of 1980 is the model, should be the model for the Kerry campaign in 2004. When Ronald Reagan, an icon of the right, was speaking at his convention in 1980, he never mentioned abortion, he never mentioned busing, he never mentioned school prayer, he never mentioned any of the hot-button conservative issues.

He stayed in the center, because that's where elections are won, in the center. So the Kerry campaign is doing a very smart thing by focusing on the center.

COOPER: Tucker, what are you going to be listening for tonight?

CARLSON: I'll be, I mean, I expect that he'll give a good speech. He's a good speaker. I mean, there's no way around it. Whatever his many faults, you know, command of the language is not one of them. He's great at speaking.

I do think, though, that it's disappointing there aren't more Democrats here at the Democratic convention. I mean, maybe Ronald Reagan did sort of whitewash his own beliefs in the 1980 convention. Well, that's a shame.

I mean, you ought to say exactly what you think. This is a party that supports unlimited access to abortion and gay rights. It's either a good thing or a bad thing, depending on where you stand. But they should at least say so out loud. Everyone knows it, why not be honest?

COOPER: We're going to leave it there. Tucker Carlson, Paul Begala, thanks for joining us.

We're rejoined now by former Vermont governor Howard Dean.

DEAN: Try this one again.

COOPER: We're going to try this one again...

DEAN: Right.

COOPER: I hope it's working. It's a little hard to tell over here. In your speech, you did not mention the word Iraq. You of all people who really came to the fore by talking about the war in Iraq. Was that a conscious choice?

DEAN: What I did talk about is the morality of American foreign policy. The issue with Iraq is the president's credibility. The fact that we're at war is not a negative or a positive for the president (UNINTELLIGIBLE) most Democrats don't like it. Republicans think it's fine. The trouble the president is in is over the scandal at Abu Ghraib, the torture, it's the memo that the Justice Department wrote saying it was OK to torture people. It's now obvious that the president did not tell the truth about how we got in Iraq. The 9/11 commission even said so. That's what hurting the president on Iraq. It's not whether we're there or whether we're not there.

COOPER: Well Republicans, of course, say it wasn't the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) not telling the truth, is that he himself was misinformed.

DEAN: But it doesn't matter what the Republicans say. Most people -- I have seen this polling on CNN. The majority -- vast majority of Americans believe that President Bush at least exaggerated the facts, a significant minority believe that he didn't...

COOPER: Do you think things are going to get very nasty in this race? I mean Republicans are already saying perhaps no great surprise that they've heard a lot of (UNINTELLIGIBLE) at this convention. Others are saying look, you know this has been a pretty muted convention. President Bush hasn't even been mentioned by name very much here.

DEAN: The American people will make the final judgment on this. I think it is going to be ugliest race that we have seen in a long time...

COOPER: Really?

DEAN: ... and we've seen some pretty ugly races. Yes, these -- the Republicans' problem is that they believe that -- their ideology justifies doing almost anything. And they will stop at nothing to try to win this race. John Kerry is a good nominee for this party. He's tough and he's got some very tough people around him and they are going to need that toughness before we get done...

COOPER: So you think this is really going to be the nastiest campaign...

DEAN: I think it is going to be an incredible ugly race. When the Republicans start losing and I think they're going to be behind by a certain amount in mid September, late September. They are going to do anything they can. You're going to see push tolling (ph). You're going to see rumors. It is going to be a really difficult tough race. These are mean nasty people on the right side of the political equation here.

COOPER: But as you just said, there are some tough people on the Democratic side...

DEAN: Yes.

COOPER: They're going to be taking the gloves off as well.

DEAN: We're going to have to hit him right back. I have long advocated that you do not lie down in front of the extreme radical right, but you hit them right back as hard as you can.

COOPER: A figure came out today, I think it was - I don't want to misquote - I think it was 3.2 million Kerry/Edwards raised yesterday on the Internet, the most ever raised on the Internet in one day. Did you get a thank you call?

DEAN: Listen, they have all adopted our stuff and I'm grateful for it. I think it's great. Even John Edwards said something about race last night that I have been saying for months on the campaign trail. And I sat back and I looked at that and I said this is fantastic. We need to start talking about race to the general audience in this country. And I didn't win but I sure put my stamp on the way...

COOPER: Well, it's interesting you talk about that because the whole flap over the Confederate flag statement you make about the pickup trucks, I mean the debate that I moderated, that was a big contention between you and John Edwards. Interesting to see how things are...

DEAN: I think it is great. I really do. I bear no ill will to everybody taking a lot of stuff out of our platform. I think it's absolutely fantastic. I do agree -- I don't agree with Tucker Carlson on very much, but I do agree that the more we say what we think the better off we are. People -- the American people want conviction. They want conviction.

COOPER: Well have they heard conviction here this week?

DEAN: I think they've heard conviction. What they've heard is conviction in a nice way. And I agree with this notion that we ought not take the hide off the president at this convention. This convention is about presenting John Kerry to the American people. The American people have already decided, the majority of them, that they might not want to retire George Bush for four years. That's why his re-election is below 50 percent. Now the question is will they hire John Kerry and if the answer to that is yes, he wins. That's why we don't want a lot of Bush bashing at this convention.

COOPER: Tonight, there's John -- I don't want to over blow tonight, the importance of it, but a lot of people are probably taking a first look of John Kerry in some parts of the country. Does he have to show that he is as strong, if not stronger on defense than -- and the war on terror than the president.

DEAN: No he doesn't. We don't believe he did. When I was the frontrunner, we calculated that if we could get the defense down, that gap down from 50 points where it was against any Democrat, to less than 10, that we would win on the economic issues. The economy even though the numbers are better, the economy is awful in the border states, in the battleground states.

Manufacturing jobs going, being replaced by Wal-Mart jobs, just barely above minimum wage with no benefits. And you can't dress up the figures. You know those folks don't read "The Wall Street Journal" they just know what is going on in their lives and their neighbor's lives. The economy is going to be won or lost -- excuse me -- the election is going to be won or lost on the economy. What John Kerry has to do is show that he is as good as President Bush and 10 points disagree...

COOPER: So it's not a rocket -- it's the economy...

(CROSSTALK)

DEAN: All Iraq can do is hurt the president because it's his credibility is the issue. I think whether we have -- it's true the majority of the people think it was a mistake now to go into Iraq. I don't think that's going to hurt the president. I think what's going to hurt the president is he didn't tell the truth about why we are there. That is going to bother people about the stability of this president and his ability to control the armed forces, to send the armed forces in a way that will defend the country and Kerry's strength. The reason Kerry beat me and everybody else in Iowa and went on to win the nomination is ultimately Democratic voters decided that in a match with George Bush, John Kerry's military experience and his ability to think about foreign policy was going to carry the day for the Democrats and I think they may be right.

COOPER: Do you talk with John Kerry, with John Edwards much? I mean you're out there, you're campaigning in many different ways for them. Do you talk to them a lot?

DEAN: I talk to -- well I run into John Edwards from time to time on the trail. I haven't seen him since he was named vice president. John Kerry and I talk every two weeks roughly either in person or on the phone and it's substantive. It's not (UNINTELLIGIBLE) conversation.

COOPER: Dr. Dean, it's always good to talk to you. Thank you for being with us tonight.

DEAN: Thanks...

COOPER: All right. Well Democratic insiders are weighing in on what they think John Kerry needs to do tonight in his speech. Everybody has got an opinion. In today's "National Journal" poll, 23 Democratic insiders said Kerry must convince viewers he'll put the nation on the right track. Eight said Kerry must stress his record of strength on national defense, while five said Kerry should convince viewers that he represents mainstream values.

That brings us to our "Buzz" question, what do you think? What do you think? Tonight John Kerry must convince viewers he will put the nation on the right track, is strong on defense, or represent mainstream values.

Log on to cnn.com/360. Cast your vote. Results at the end of the program tonight.

And for the most part the Democrats here are putting on a happy face for the convention that would say is -- some would say it was pretty upbeat. They are doing it by using words -- some words and avoiding some other words. That doesn't mean that the president is getting a free pass. Of course, for raw politics one party's word play has a way of making the other party see red. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER (voice-over): To all speakers the Kerry camp's message was clear, play nice or as they put it draw contrast, not blood. The result, speeches have been, well,, sanitized. Some polarizing words have become big no-nos like...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... Iraq...

COOPER: ... Iraq was uttered only 43 times in the first three days of convention speeches. That's roughly 20 hours of talking. The word gay according to our count was only mentioned seven times.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And yes we've got some gay friends in the red states...

COOPER: And what is an important issue for liberals...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... abortion...

COOPER: ... just three times. The president's name...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... Bush...

COOPER: ... was only said 19 times, even though his policies were routinely criticized. Instead Democrats have littered their speeches with positive concepts like...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... hope...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... hope...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... hope...

COOPER: ... which was uttered 96 times or...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... jobs...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... jobs...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... jobs...

COOPER: ... 128 times. And, of course, the word...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... values...

COOPER: ... 90 times. Why is that?

BILL SCHNEIDER, SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: What do Americans want right now that they are not getting from President Bush? They want someone who can unify the country. That's what Democrats have figured out. Every speaker has referred to the ability to unify the country. Bring it together. Make it the United States of America. That message would be undermined if they ran a shrill, harsh divisive campaign.

COOPER: But Republicans say don't be fooled by semantics. Beyond the words or their absence the Democrats are just playing dirty, they say. To prove it, the Republicans well armed war room sent its calculation to reporters. During the two hours and 27 minutes these eight Democrats speakers have spoken on prime time TV...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our vote is not for sale.

COOPER: They spent exactly 54 minutes and 46 seconds criticizing the president and only 45 minutes and 27 seconds promoting John Kerry. See, say the Republicans, fuzzy math say the Democrats. In the world of raw politics, as Israeli once said, there are lies, damn lies and statistics. (END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Coming up next on 360(, veteran ABC News anchorman, Peter Jennings. Are the networks making a mistake by scaling back coverage of the convention? I'll ask him that and much more.

Also tonight, following every word they say or at least trying to, why operating the teleprompter here may be the toughest job around. We'll explain and it involves Al Sharpton.

And a little later, Moore, Moore, Moore -- he's everywhere. We think it's reached the point of overkill.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: And yes, that is actor Ben Affleck and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton sitting and watching some of the speeches being made. John Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO, on the podium at this moment. A lot of speakers here tonight. All tonight, of course, be covered by one of our favorite newsmen, Peter Jennings.

He covered his first convention for ABC back in 1964. He's not missed one since. Tonight on his birthday, Jennings is once again sitting behind his anchor desk. I almost said how old he was and I decided not to. He's again sitting behind his anchor desk up there to steer the network's coverage. But the times, they are changing. Yes, Jennings remains a broadcasting giant, no doubt about it, but he, Tom Brokaw and Dan Rather are also watching some of their dominance at these convention slip away. I talked to him earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Do conventions matter anymore? I mean you know the wrap is that it's all staged. That we know what they're going to say. That there's no news here.

PETER JENNINGS, ANCHOR, "ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT": I think they matter in different ways to different people. They certainly matter to the activists who are here, gives the party a chance to energize the crowd, gives this party particularly a chance to placate the more liberal bent, I think, of this crowd and get them on station, if you will, for the more centrist message the party wishes to campaign on.

COOPER: Because you don't hear -- I think in the first two days, out of 108 speeches the word Iraq was only mentioned 13 times. You don't hear Iraq.

(LAUGHTER)

COOPER: You don't hear the word gay. You don't hear abortion.

JENNINGS: That's true.

COOPER: It's not like conventions past.

JENNINGS: Well it's not like Democratic parties past and it's not even really like the Democratic Party itself. I think it's quite interesting how this party, which I think revels to some extent in its differences has managed to stay on message.

COOPER: You just got back from Iraq. Does it -- having been there does it change the way you look at this, the way you look at this process at all? I mean does it -- for me it actually kind of made me -- I think it is easy to be cynical about this process, easy to be cynical about what's happening here...

JENNINGS: Oh I bet it made you feel romantic about it...

COOPER: It did in a way, yes...

JENNINGS: Yes, you see you and I have similar experiences. We've all been -- we've both been in many, many parts of the world where power is exchanged from a barrel of a gun. Some guy brings up his tank and the government changes. That still happens in many parts of the world. In the time I served overseas it happened all the time. So I think when you come home and participate in the Democratic process, even vicariously as journalists do, I think it is extraordinarily moving.

COOPER: Do -- the networks -- broadcast networks, you guys have gotten a bad rap lately. I mean you know you're broadcasting three hours of coverage...

JENNINGS: Yes, it's not enough...

COOPER: ... all this week, though you're doing this digital television, which I want to talk about in a moment...

JENNINGS: It's not enough.

COOPER: It's not enough?

JENNINGS: No, of course not. When Barack Obama was on the television the other night...

COOPER: It wasn't carried live by the networks...

JENNINGS: I know. Our network, I'm sorry to say, was in a rerun of a program that I don't know which one it was, but...

COOPER: Does it embarrass you?

JENNINGS: No, it actually make me a little angry and that's why on the other hand, because life is all about on the other hand, that's why I'm really glad that ABC gave us all this time to do it on digital cable.

COOPER: So how does that work? I mean where are you being seen on digital cable and how much are you doing there?

JENNINGS: We are -- first of all, we're doing gavel-to-gavel, see it that way. We start when they start. We actually start before they start. We start an hour before they start and we go to the end of them. But as interesting for us, and it's a real pioneering experience we're doing it gavel-to-gavel on the Internet through all of the providers, most notably Comcast and AOL, Yahoo!, real networks and things like that...

COOPER: You've got a lot of viewers on that...

(CROSSTALK)

JENNINGS: I must tell you I thought I might be talking to eight people and a goat to be perfectly honest...

COOPER: Eight people and a goat...

JENNINGS: I really wasn't sure. Well you never know on the Internet.

(LAUGHTER)

JENNINGS: But it turned out that our first night's coverage was the largest experience AOL had ever had in its history and the second night there were more.

COOPER: What are you going to be listening for tonight in John Kerry's speech?

JENNINGS: Well I'll tell you what I'm going to tell the audience in advance. Don't listen to us too much in the media about whether we set the bar too high or too low after all, because there isn't an awful lot of news here. This is what we're all talking about today. He's got to do this. He's got to do that.

If he doesn't do this he'll -- listen, he may talk too long at 55 minutes for my taste. But he's a lot of constituents he's to satisfy. And John Kerry is not a bad speechmaker. He may not be as good as John Edwards. He may not be as good as some of the red meat speakers they've had here earlier in the week, a certain speaker we know was supposed to speak for six minutes and he took 20 the other night. This convention loved it.

It's clearly an important speech. I don't think he thinks it's the most important speech of his life.

COOPER: Really?

JENNINGS: I think he believes that testimony to the Senate as a member of the anti-war movement. As a veteran I think he still thinks that was the most important speech of his life so far.

COOPER: Peter Jennings...

JENNINGS: It's great to see you.

COOPER: It's good to see you.

JENNINGS: We miss you.

COOPER: And I understand it's your birthday. Happy birthday.

JENNINGS: Yes, I'm old.

COOPER: I didn't say the age. Happy birthday...

JENNINGS: Nice to see you. Thanks.

COOPER: See you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Peter Jennings, legendary. He is the one person that's getting all the attention here. Not Peter Jennings, I'm talking about Michael Moore. Next on 360(, lights, camera, Michael Moore. Is it time for less? That's next.

But first today's "Buzz". What do you think? Tonight, John Kerry must convince viewers he will put the nation on the right track, is strong on defense, and that he represents mainstream values. A lot of excitement building here tonight on this convention floor.

Log on to cnn.com/360. Cast your vote, get in on it. Results when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC/"AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL")

(APPLAUSE)

COOPER: In a week of many remarkable moments, another remarkable moment here tonight. Mavis Staples singing "America The Beautiful". The crowd on their feet. The atmosphere electric.

We're going to be having a lot of coverage over the next several hours. Of course, John Kerry is speaking tonight. Joe Biden now taking to the podium -- one of the many speakers here who will be talking about John Kerry the man, his record, his military record, and what they say he will do for this country.

Tonight we take the idea of unity to "The Nth Degree". Now that this is all almost over, we're wondering what America's famous cowboy pundit, Will Rogers, would have felt about the last few days here in Boston. He's the guy that once said I'm the member of no organized political party. I'm a Democrat. The rope twirling country boy from Oklahoma would be pretty surprised by how his party has changed. Seems to us at least disorganized, contentious, divided. Hardly, things have gone like clockwork this week.

Disagreements, separate camps, clashes of opinion, no, no, and no. It's all been more like the old song Rogers himself might have sung, "Seldom was heard, a discouraging word and the skies and the speeches weren't cloudy all day." Would Will Rogers have liked the Democrats new unity? Hard to say. There was, truth to tell, something proud, something boastful almost in that wisecrack about his not being an organized party. But times have changed. Being sleek and well groomed aren't as suspicious as they used to be back in Will Rogers' day.

CNN's live coverage continues of this remarkable event all evening long, heading up to John King -- John Kerry speaking live around 10:30 p.m. Wolf Blitzer, Judy Woodruff will be here live covering this. Let's go back to the podium.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This struggle reached our shores on September 11, 2001, and delivered this generation of Americans to this moment of awesome destiny. After 9/11, I believed and I still do that if we exercise the full measure of our power, including our ideas as well as our ideals, we could unite not only this nation...

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com


Aired July 29, 2004 - 19:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, HOST: Good evening from Boston. I'm Anderson Cooper.
The final night of the Democratic National Convention. John Kerry makes his pitch to be president.

360 starts now.

Tonight, John Kerry takes center stage, a 55-minute address designed to win over undecided voters. The speech is ready, but can this candidate deliver?

Vice president Dick Cheney swings a punch saying Kerry can't protect the country. Is this race about to get nastier?

You've heard the speeches. But what happened to the controversy? Iraq, abortion, gay marriage -- why are some Democrats not saying these words?

The packaging of a presidential candidate. Have the Democrats figured out how to sell John Kerry? We talk live with former candidates Howard Dean and General Wesley Clark.

Cable's got the convention covered. But what's happened to the big three news networks? We go 360 with ABC News anchor Peter Jennings.

And he's here, there, and everywhere, Michael Moore, basking in the convention spotlight. Love him or hate him, we don't care. But is anyone else tired of him yet? Moore's the merrier, but tonight, he's overkill.

ANNOUNCER: This is a special edition of ANDERSON COOPER 360, live from the Democratic National Convention in Boston.

COOPER: Good evening.

In newsrooms around the country, writers are breathing a sigh of relief. Now no one has to call John Kerry the Democrats' presumptive candidate any more. He is the Democratic Party's candidate in fact, having won the nomination in a roll-call vote of state delegations last night.

All that remains now, of course, is for Senator Kerry to accept that nomination. As you can see, the house is already packed. There is no tension about his accepting. That is the grand finale, of course, tonight. The question that remains to be answered at this hour, is, will Kerry close the deal? Meaning, can he convince those sitting on the fence, you at home, in towns large and small, can he convince you that he's the person you should vote for?

Tonight, joining me, Howard Dean, Wesley Clark, Peter Jennings, and many, many more.

But first, we bring you the latest developments.

Frank Buckley has a preview of Kerry's speech tonight. Details just released. Kathleen Koch is covering how the White House is preparing for the campaign that follows.

And for an overview of what will happen in the hours ahead, we begin with CNN's Candy Crowley -- Candy.

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, I'm told by our crack research department that we have now heard 167 speeches over the last three and a half days. But you shouldn't think of them as separate speeches, just one long drum roll.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CROWLEY (voice-over): Of the 186 speeches on the schedule, we're getting down to the one that matters. Wearing his casual clothes and What, me worry? look, John Kerry checked out the digs this morning. For three days, friends, family, and like-minded politicos have talked about how great he is, how strong, how decisive.

All Kerry has to do this evening is prove it.

There will be some policy, we're told, but mostly tonight is about the vibe, says Camp Kerry. People will see him as presidential.

Fun continues on the Teresa watch, where the women's caucus got so carried away, someone suggested she run for president. Teresa deferred to a Republican.

TERESA HEINZ KERRY, JOHN KERRY'S WIFE: Arnold comes before me because he's governor, I'm not. And they have to change the law, and I'd be too old too.

COOPER: Actually the presidential hurdle for Teresa is not chronological but geographical. She wasn't born here, neither was Arnold.

All in all, save for Ms. Heinz Kerry telling a reporter to shove it and a burst of unscripted Al Sharpton, the whole affair feels like Christmas when you wrap your own presents. The thrill is gone, but it looks great.

One of the final acts in this no-dissent, no-distractions unreality show is a bioflick of the candidate's life put together by an Oscar-winning film director. Perfect.

(END VIDEOTAPE) CROWLEY: Just to keep you up to date, Anderson, on the statistics, we started out with on Monday the 100,000 balloons. They are still up there. And when they come down, everybody goes home.

COOPER: Candy Crowley, thanks very much.

Unscripted Al Sharpton, you said. I think that's sort of, that's redundant. I think Al Sharpton's pretty much always unscripted. And we'll actually talk about that a little bit later on in the program.

Time to drill down a bit right now. Some details of the candidate's speech. We know it's going to be long, 55 minutes at least. The question is, will it do the job?

For that, here is CNN's Frank Buckley.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Senator John Kerry took to the podium earlier today for a technical walk-through.

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I am really looking forward (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...

BUCKLEY: For the real thing, he'll talk about national security, values, and the successes of the economy in the 1990s, according to excerpts of the senator's speech released late today.

On national security, Kerry invokes his service as a decorated swiftboat commander in Vietnam. "I defended this country as a young man," he says, "and I will defend it as president. Let there be no mistake, I will never hesitate to use force when it is required."

And Kerry will deliver a line about war that he frequently delivers while campaigning.

KERRY: The great United States of America, our beloved country, never goes to war because it wants to. We go to war because we have to.

BUCKLEY: On values, Kerry will say, "Values are not just words. They are what we live by. They are about the causes we champion and the people we fight for. And it is time for those who talk about family values to start valuing families."

MARK OWENS, OHIO DELEGATE: I think it will be a very good speech. I think that he's, again, I think he's going to fill in the blanks for a lot of undecided voters tonight.

BUCKLEY: If Senator Kerry is nervous about the most important speech of his life, he isn't showing it. He went for a bike ride late this afternoon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BUCKLEY: Immediately after the ride, or immediately after the speech, Senator Kerry expected to go to attend a fireworks display here in Boston. Then he embarks on a coast-to-coast tour of campaigning, 21 states, over 3,500 miles. And he'll be (UNINTELLIGIBLE), doing some of those states with John Edwards, the first states on the agenda, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio, Anderson.

COOPER: Frank, thanks very much for that.

The Kerry-Edwards bank account is getting a big boost during the convention. Here's a 360 fast fact for you. The campaign says it has raised more than $3.2 million at JohnKerry.com yesterday. One day. That is the most donations online ever in one day. The times certainly are a-changin'.

This year alone, the Kerry-Edwards campaign has raised $75 million online. So far its total fundraising amount is $186.2 million, five times that of any other Democratic presidential contender in history. Although, of course, the history of the Internet has -- (audio interrupt)

... well, no, not the president. The president is not at -- (audio interrupt)

... and what comes next, may get nasty indeed. Kathleen Koch reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As President Bush returns to Washington, he immediately hits the campaign trail, a spokesman saying the president will debut a retooled stump speech, with fewer attacks and more details on his vision for the next four years, all a stark contrast to his week out of the spotlight, biking and poring over the 9/11 commission report.

President Bush met three times via secure videoconference with the task force he named to analyze the commission's recommendations. Wednesday, a White House spokesman says, they are moving quickly, and making, quote, "great progress," with presidential action predicted as early as tomorrow.

TRENT DUFFY, WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN: There are recommendations that have the potential to be put into place quickly. And the president, as I said, would waste no time in doing that. But these are very big issues.

KOCH: While President Bush followed tradition, ceding media attention to the Democrats in Boston, the vice president kept pushing the campaign's message in appearances for Republican candidates.

DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The team meeting this week in Boston would repeal many of the Bush tax cuts within their first 100 days in office. What we're hearing from the other side is the failed thinking of the past. And we're not going back.

KOCH: Mr. Bush's plan now is to go back to battleground states, covering four in a two-day campaign swing.

STUART ROTHMAN, POLITICAL ANALYST: I think he simply needs to get ready for New York, when the Republicans have to show who they are, what they are going to do, what they have done so far, and why George W. Bush needs to be reelected.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOCH: A Bush-Cheney campaign spokesman told me this afternoon that while they do expect to see challenger John Kerry get a bounce out of the convention, a bounce in the polls, that they plan to counter it. Spokesman Scott Stanzel (ph) said that President Bush has a very aggressive campaign schedule planned in August, emphasizing a different theme each and every week. And they believe that will erase any advantage that crops up by Labor Day, Anderson.

COOPER: Kathleen Koch, thanks very much.

One of the many scenes here. You see a lot of people here at the convention. One of them, Amarosa, is from "The Apprentice." I'm not quite sure what she's doing here, but she is making herself known. There she is once again.

Coming up, 360 next, he is taking center stage at the podium tonight. I don't think he even watched "The Apprentice." And he is joining us live, Wesley Clark, one-time presidential candidate. What does he think John Kerry can do about Iraq that George Bush can't? We'll ask him.

Also, Howard Dean live. Always been outspoken, always unpredictable, but have the Democrats muzzled themselves too much this week? I'll ask him that.

And Michael Moore, anywhere there's a camera, there's Moore. Love him or hate him, we got Moore overkill.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: And as you can see, the place is very crowded. A lot of people very excited to hear John Kerry here tonight later on.

In almost every speech here at the convention, John Kerry's military resume comes up. The message, he chose to serve his country. He earned three Purple Hearts in Vietnam. And because of that, he is the best man to lead the charge in the war on terror. That is what they are saying. That is the message they are trying to reinforce.

Last night, a parade of 12 retired admirals and generals, including two former chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and former presidential candidate General Wesley Clark, came to the convention stage. Tonight, General Clark will once again be onstage around 8:15, this time to talk up Kerry on his own. He joins me now.

General, good to see you tonight.

GEN. WESLEY CLARK (RET.) (D), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Good to see you, Anderson.

COOPER: What makes John Kerry's position on Iraq now different than what George Bush's position is now?

CLARK: Well, John Kerry has been consistent on Iraq. George Bush has slid to John Kerry's position, driven by necessity, driven by the failure of their ideological rightwing approach.

COOPER: Arguably, though, and what Republicans would say, if they (UNINTELLIGIBLE), I mean, they disagree with that, but they'll say, Look, that's in the past. Right now, on the ground, what would John Kerry do differently to either get us out of the situation or to improve the situation?

CLARK: Well, what John Kerry's going to do is work with the other powers in the region in a way that George Bush can't. And he's...

COOPER: Why can't? What, what, how, What is he going to do? I mean, I know John Kerry speaks French, but beyond that...

CLARK: Well, what we got to have is, we've got to have a regional dialog. What the Republican administration did was set up a -- they set up a series of conflict problems in the region, like the Syrians. They think that they are going to be attacked by the United States as soon as we finish with Iraq.

The Iranians are trying to get a nuclear weapon in part to -- because they want great power, but in part they think they are next on the U.S. hit list.

What John Kerry's going to try to do is persuade all these countries that it's in their interest to work together for stability, for democracy, and not to engage in regional conflict.

COOPER: But basing the difference on the idea that he may be able to persuade them more convincingly than George Bush was, I mean, that's, there are a lot of ifs in there. There's a lot of sort of assumptions in there.

CLARK: But it's a huge difference, because it's a fundamental difference in the approach of what the Republicans have done. But they are...

COOPER: You say they've tainted the water, they've tainted the pool, they can't do it any more.

CLARK: Not only that, but they are unilateralist by preference. Their view of the world is, Hey, we're a big powerful country, we get what we want. We don't care about anybody else unless we have to. What the Democrats will do is work together with other countries to show it's in their interest to help us attain our interest.

COOPER: Should John Kerry tonight and will John Kerry tonight, in your opinion, go into specifics about -- I mean, their speech is 55 minutes long. Will there be a lot of specifics? Or should he avoid that? Should he sort of stand back and speak in more general terms about policy, about Iraq? Because we have not heard the I-word very much, Iraq. I mean, it's literally been mentioned, you know, a couple dozen times in all the, the more than 100 or so speeches.

CLARK: Well, he's laid out the general lines. But the details of day-to-day activities are the Republicans' problem right now. And John Kerry and his advisers are not getting the information on that to be able to answer it day by day.

You know, that terrible truck bomb that went off yesterday and killed almost 70 people, we are not getting the intelligence that would say, Well, you know, if you just position the police up the street more closely, if you just had two more American patrols in the area, if you just had helicopters overhead, and then you need more helicopters, et cetera -- that stuff, that level of detail is not John Kerry's. It's not his problem.

It's George Bush's problem. And what the American people are seeing increasingly is that the administration just hasn't been very competent in dealing with the problem with Iraq after the conflict.

COOPER: We look forward to hearing your speech around 8:15.

CLARK: Eight-eleven.

COOPER: Eight-eleven, all right, all right, good.

CLARK: It's all precise.

COOPER: General Clark, thanks very much.

CLARK: Thank you, Anderson.

COOPER: Well, 360 next, Kerry's kids on the campaign trail. You've seen some of them in the spotlight, but what about the ones you have never seen? That ahead.

Also tonight, he was one of the first Democrats out against the war, and now he's backing John Kerry, and didn't even use the word Iraq in his convention speech. We'll ask him, is he being muzzled?

And a little later, veteran anchorman Peter Jennings of ABC News. Did the network drop the ball by dropping convention coverage down to three hours? I'll ask him.

360 next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: And the (UNINTELLIGIBLE), the crowds are gathering here at the FleetCenter anticipating a very exciting night indeed. Tonight, the children and stepchildren of John Kerry will do what a political family is expected to do, try to make their dad look good. Of course, Kerry's kids aren't really kids any more. They range in age from 27 to 37. They're an extended family, the product of a tragic death and emotional divorce. Yet these days, their focus is on one thing, getting John Kerry elected.

CNN's Dan Lothian gives us a look at a -- the Democratic ticket's version of, well, you might say, the Brady Bunch.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The one day when this lady met this fellow, John and Teresa, all right, no hunch, no bunch, just a modern American blended family. The Kerry girls, Alexandra and Vanessa, the Heinz boys, Andre and Chris. Oh, and John IV, who doesn't like to have his picture taken.

All children of senators, two different senators, all grown adults when John and Teresa walked down the aisle nine years ago.

ALEXANDRA KERRY, JOHN KERRY'S DAUGHTER: That part, we practiced.

LOTHIAN: Alex and Vanessa Kerry have been at their father's side throughout the campaign, though both have their own full plates of priorities. Alex just completed film school. One of her movies showed at Cannes this year.

KERRY: Vanessa?

VANESSA KERRY: Yes.

KERRY: Are they making lacrosse sticks that short now? Or those are (UNINTELLIGIBLE)?

VANESSA KERRY: Oh, no, that's a kid one.

LOTHIAN: Her younger sister, Vanessa, is a Harvard med student. Neither has expressed interest in getting into their father's line of work.

CHRIS HEINZ, JOHN KERRY'S STEPSON: I just flew in from California, and I was down there in Santa Monica, and it was, like, 85 degrees.

LOTHIAN: Not so for Chris Heinz, the youngest son of Teresa and the late Senator John Heinz. He's flirting with a political future, and with his movie star looks and charisma on the Kerry campaign trail, he's seen as a rising star.

Teresa's middle son, Andre, has been less visible on the stump. He lives mainly in Sweden, where he's an environmental consultant. But he's upped his appearances and is on the road with his stepfather this week.

And then there is John Heinz's namesake, John IV, a Pennsylvania teacher. He shuns the spotlight.

ALEXANDRA KERRY: Sometimes we feel like rock stars. LOTHIAN: They are greeted that way on the trail, savvy campaigners injecting a little hip into their father, or stepfather's, campaign.

Dan Lothian, CNN, Boston.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Well, joining me next live right after the break, former governor of Vermont Howard Dean, former Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean, he joins me live. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: And welcome back 360's special coverage of the final night of the Democratic National Convention here at the FleetCenter in Boston, Massachusetts.

Talk about batting cleanup. After all has been said and done, and a great deal has been said in hundreds of speeches over the last four days, it's going to now be John Kerry's turn to stand up before the delegates who have made him their nominee and to convince them that they have done the right thing.

Others tonight will speak about the candidate first, his daughter Vanessa, General Wesley Clark, Senator Joe Lieberman, Max Cleland of Georgia, among many others.

And then, at about 10:30 this evening Eastern time, John Kerry, Democratic candidate for the presidency of the United States, will at long last speak for himself.

Joining us now is the man a lot of people thought early on, at least, would be making the big speech this evening, the former governor of Vermont, Howard Dean.

Appreciate you being here.

Are we going to hear from John Kerry a lot tonight specifics about Iraq? Because the I-word has not been used here. You didn't even use Iraq in your speech.

HOWARD DEAN (D-VT), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) should he?

COOPER: I'm sorry, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) told, we -- we got to have -- we got a problem with your mike. If we're going to fix it, and just quickly go to "CROSSFIRE." We will be rejoined by Dr. Dean in just a few moments.

A lot of talk at the podium has been about Vietnam and John Kerry's brave military service there more than 35 years ago. As for today's military situation, Iraq has been mentioned, but critics say the Kerry-Edwards isn't giving any specifics.

Let's go now to the "CROSSFIRE" guys, to Paul Begala and to Tucker Carlson, get their take on this.

Paul, I understand you have some information about how John Kerry is going to address the issue of waffling, which has been something the Republicans have been using against him.

PAUL BEGALA, CO-HOST, "CROSSFIRE": Well, it's very interesting, Anderson. He can't just say, I'm not a waffler, right? He needs to answer that with style as well as substance.

One of the reasons the waffler charge sticks on John Kerry is that he speaks in long, complicated, dependent clauses. Tonight's speech, and I've got some excerpts from it, has a lot of short, powerful declarative sentences like this. "I defended this country as a young man, and I will defend it as president," period. "Let there be no mistake. I will never hesitate to use force when it was required," period. "Any attack will be met with a swift and certain response," period.

A lot of short, powerful declarative sentences will let the audience see what Kerry wants them to see, that he is, in fact, a very decisive and strong leader. So he's answering the waffling charge with style as well as substance.

COOPER: Tuck...

TUCKER CARLSON, CO-HOST, "CROSSFIRE": I'm not, I'm not sure Kerry's problem is one that's rooted in syntax. I mean, I actually think he has a lovely command of the language. He speaks in perfect sentences, which I personally enjoy listening to.

The problem is, he changed his position on another of -- a number of key issues. But I think the more important and significant charge is not that he's a waffler, but that he is airy, that he gives no specifics at all.

And I think the speech, in the end, will be judged on the answer to this question, What are we going to do in Iraq? We're going to have 140,000 troops there on November 2. Should we bring them back? Should we keep them there? If so, when will we know when it's time to bring them home? I think he needs to address that at least, if not answer it tonight.

COOPER: Paul, have the Democratic leaders been putting too much of a muzzle on some of these speakers? I mean, we have not heard Iraq talked about. We have not heard words like gay used, abortion, some of the things which, in past conventions, you've heard about.

BEGALA: Well, when Ronald Reagan -- I think the Reagan campaign of 1980 is the model, should be the model for the Kerry campaign in 2004. When Ronald Reagan, an icon of the right, was speaking at his convention in 1980, he never mentioned abortion, he never mentioned busing, he never mentioned school prayer, he never mentioned any of the hot-button conservative issues.

He stayed in the center, because that's where elections are won, in the center. So the Kerry campaign is doing a very smart thing by focusing on the center.

COOPER: Tucker, what are you going to be listening for tonight?

CARLSON: I'll be, I mean, I expect that he'll give a good speech. He's a good speaker. I mean, there's no way around it. Whatever his many faults, you know, command of the language is not one of them. He's great at speaking.

I do think, though, that it's disappointing there aren't more Democrats here at the Democratic convention. I mean, maybe Ronald Reagan did sort of whitewash his own beliefs in the 1980 convention. Well, that's a shame.

I mean, you ought to say exactly what you think. This is a party that supports unlimited access to abortion and gay rights. It's either a good thing or a bad thing, depending on where you stand. But they should at least say so out loud. Everyone knows it, why not be honest?

COOPER: We're going to leave it there. Tucker Carlson, Paul Begala, thanks for joining us.

We're rejoined now by former Vermont governor Howard Dean.

DEAN: Try this one again.

COOPER: We're going to try this one again...

DEAN: Right.

COOPER: I hope it's working. It's a little hard to tell over here. In your speech, you did not mention the word Iraq. You of all people who really came to the fore by talking about the war in Iraq. Was that a conscious choice?

DEAN: What I did talk about is the morality of American foreign policy. The issue with Iraq is the president's credibility. The fact that we're at war is not a negative or a positive for the president (UNINTELLIGIBLE) most Democrats don't like it. Republicans think it's fine. The trouble the president is in is over the scandal at Abu Ghraib, the torture, it's the memo that the Justice Department wrote saying it was OK to torture people. It's now obvious that the president did not tell the truth about how we got in Iraq. The 9/11 commission even said so. That's what hurting the president on Iraq. It's not whether we're there or whether we're not there.

COOPER: Well Republicans, of course, say it wasn't the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) not telling the truth, is that he himself was misinformed.

DEAN: But it doesn't matter what the Republicans say. Most people -- I have seen this polling on CNN. The majority -- vast majority of Americans believe that President Bush at least exaggerated the facts, a significant minority believe that he didn't...

COOPER: Do you think things are going to get very nasty in this race? I mean Republicans are already saying perhaps no great surprise that they've heard a lot of (UNINTELLIGIBLE) at this convention. Others are saying look, you know this has been a pretty muted convention. President Bush hasn't even been mentioned by name very much here.

DEAN: The American people will make the final judgment on this. I think it is going to be ugliest race that we have seen in a long time...

COOPER: Really?

DEAN: ... and we've seen some pretty ugly races. Yes, these -- the Republicans' problem is that they believe that -- their ideology justifies doing almost anything. And they will stop at nothing to try to win this race. John Kerry is a good nominee for this party. He's tough and he's got some very tough people around him and they are going to need that toughness before we get done...

COOPER: So you think this is really going to be the nastiest campaign...

DEAN: I think it is going to be an incredible ugly race. When the Republicans start losing and I think they're going to be behind by a certain amount in mid September, late September. They are going to do anything they can. You're going to see push tolling (ph). You're going to see rumors. It is going to be a really difficult tough race. These are mean nasty people on the right side of the political equation here.

COOPER: But as you just said, there are some tough people on the Democratic side...

DEAN: Yes.

COOPER: They're going to be taking the gloves off as well.

DEAN: We're going to have to hit him right back. I have long advocated that you do not lie down in front of the extreme radical right, but you hit them right back as hard as you can.

COOPER: A figure came out today, I think it was - I don't want to misquote - I think it was 3.2 million Kerry/Edwards raised yesterday on the Internet, the most ever raised on the Internet in one day. Did you get a thank you call?

DEAN: Listen, they have all adopted our stuff and I'm grateful for it. I think it's great. Even John Edwards said something about race last night that I have been saying for months on the campaign trail. And I sat back and I looked at that and I said this is fantastic. We need to start talking about race to the general audience in this country. And I didn't win but I sure put my stamp on the way...

COOPER: Well, it's interesting you talk about that because the whole flap over the Confederate flag statement you make about the pickup trucks, I mean the debate that I moderated, that was a big contention between you and John Edwards. Interesting to see how things are...

DEAN: I think it is great. I really do. I bear no ill will to everybody taking a lot of stuff out of our platform. I think it's absolutely fantastic. I do agree -- I don't agree with Tucker Carlson on very much, but I do agree that the more we say what we think the better off we are. People -- the American people want conviction. They want conviction.

COOPER: Well have they heard conviction here this week?

DEAN: I think they've heard conviction. What they've heard is conviction in a nice way. And I agree with this notion that we ought not take the hide off the president at this convention. This convention is about presenting John Kerry to the American people. The American people have already decided, the majority of them, that they might not want to retire George Bush for four years. That's why his re-election is below 50 percent. Now the question is will they hire John Kerry and if the answer to that is yes, he wins. That's why we don't want a lot of Bush bashing at this convention.

COOPER: Tonight, there's John -- I don't want to over blow tonight, the importance of it, but a lot of people are probably taking a first look of John Kerry in some parts of the country. Does he have to show that he is as strong, if not stronger on defense than -- and the war on terror than the president.

DEAN: No he doesn't. We don't believe he did. When I was the frontrunner, we calculated that if we could get the defense down, that gap down from 50 points where it was against any Democrat, to less than 10, that we would win on the economic issues. The economy even though the numbers are better, the economy is awful in the border states, in the battleground states.

Manufacturing jobs going, being replaced by Wal-Mart jobs, just barely above minimum wage with no benefits. And you can't dress up the figures. You know those folks don't read "The Wall Street Journal" they just know what is going on in their lives and their neighbor's lives. The economy is going to be won or lost -- excuse me -- the election is going to be won or lost on the economy. What John Kerry has to do is show that he is as good as President Bush and 10 points disagree...

COOPER: So it's not a rocket -- it's the economy...

(CROSSTALK)

DEAN: All Iraq can do is hurt the president because it's his credibility is the issue. I think whether we have -- it's true the majority of the people think it was a mistake now to go into Iraq. I don't think that's going to hurt the president. I think what's going to hurt the president is he didn't tell the truth about why we are there. That is going to bother people about the stability of this president and his ability to control the armed forces, to send the armed forces in a way that will defend the country and Kerry's strength. The reason Kerry beat me and everybody else in Iowa and went on to win the nomination is ultimately Democratic voters decided that in a match with George Bush, John Kerry's military experience and his ability to think about foreign policy was going to carry the day for the Democrats and I think they may be right.

COOPER: Do you talk with John Kerry, with John Edwards much? I mean you're out there, you're campaigning in many different ways for them. Do you talk to them a lot?

DEAN: I talk to -- well I run into John Edwards from time to time on the trail. I haven't seen him since he was named vice president. John Kerry and I talk every two weeks roughly either in person or on the phone and it's substantive. It's not (UNINTELLIGIBLE) conversation.

COOPER: Dr. Dean, it's always good to talk to you. Thank you for being with us tonight.

DEAN: Thanks...

COOPER: All right. Well Democratic insiders are weighing in on what they think John Kerry needs to do tonight in his speech. Everybody has got an opinion. In today's "National Journal" poll, 23 Democratic insiders said Kerry must convince viewers he'll put the nation on the right track. Eight said Kerry must stress his record of strength on national defense, while five said Kerry should convince viewers that he represents mainstream values.

That brings us to our "Buzz" question, what do you think? What do you think? Tonight John Kerry must convince viewers he will put the nation on the right track, is strong on defense, or represent mainstream values.

Log on to cnn.com/360. Cast your vote. Results at the end of the program tonight.

And for the most part the Democrats here are putting on a happy face for the convention that would say is -- some would say it was pretty upbeat. They are doing it by using words -- some words and avoiding some other words. That doesn't mean that the president is getting a free pass. Of course, for raw politics one party's word play has a way of making the other party see red. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER (voice-over): To all speakers the Kerry camp's message was clear, play nice or as they put it draw contrast, not blood. The result, speeches have been, well,, sanitized. Some polarizing words have become big no-nos like...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... Iraq...

COOPER: ... Iraq was uttered only 43 times in the first three days of convention speeches. That's roughly 20 hours of talking. The word gay according to our count was only mentioned seven times.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And yes we've got some gay friends in the red states...

COOPER: And what is an important issue for liberals...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... abortion...

COOPER: ... just three times. The president's name...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... Bush...

COOPER: ... was only said 19 times, even though his policies were routinely criticized. Instead Democrats have littered their speeches with positive concepts like...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... hope...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... hope...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... hope...

COOPER: ... which was uttered 96 times or...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... jobs...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... jobs...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... jobs...

COOPER: ... 128 times. And, of course, the word...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... values...

COOPER: ... 90 times. Why is that?

BILL SCHNEIDER, SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: What do Americans want right now that they are not getting from President Bush? They want someone who can unify the country. That's what Democrats have figured out. Every speaker has referred to the ability to unify the country. Bring it together. Make it the United States of America. That message would be undermined if they ran a shrill, harsh divisive campaign.

COOPER: But Republicans say don't be fooled by semantics. Beyond the words or their absence the Democrats are just playing dirty, they say. To prove it, the Republicans well armed war room sent its calculation to reporters. During the two hours and 27 minutes these eight Democrats speakers have spoken on prime time TV...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our vote is not for sale.

COOPER: They spent exactly 54 minutes and 46 seconds criticizing the president and only 45 minutes and 27 seconds promoting John Kerry. See, say the Republicans, fuzzy math say the Democrats. In the world of raw politics, as Israeli once said, there are lies, damn lies and statistics. (END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Coming up next on 360(, veteran ABC News anchorman, Peter Jennings. Are the networks making a mistake by scaling back coverage of the convention? I'll ask him that and much more.

Also tonight, following every word they say or at least trying to, why operating the teleprompter here may be the toughest job around. We'll explain and it involves Al Sharpton.

And a little later, Moore, Moore, Moore -- he's everywhere. We think it's reached the point of overkill.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: And yes, that is actor Ben Affleck and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton sitting and watching some of the speeches being made. John Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO, on the podium at this moment. A lot of speakers here tonight. All tonight, of course, be covered by one of our favorite newsmen, Peter Jennings.

He covered his first convention for ABC back in 1964. He's not missed one since. Tonight on his birthday, Jennings is once again sitting behind his anchor desk. I almost said how old he was and I decided not to. He's again sitting behind his anchor desk up there to steer the network's coverage. But the times, they are changing. Yes, Jennings remains a broadcasting giant, no doubt about it, but he, Tom Brokaw and Dan Rather are also watching some of their dominance at these convention slip away. I talked to him earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Do conventions matter anymore? I mean you know the wrap is that it's all staged. That we know what they're going to say. That there's no news here.

PETER JENNINGS, ANCHOR, "ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT": I think they matter in different ways to different people. They certainly matter to the activists who are here, gives the party a chance to energize the crowd, gives this party particularly a chance to placate the more liberal bent, I think, of this crowd and get them on station, if you will, for the more centrist message the party wishes to campaign on.

COOPER: Because you don't hear -- I think in the first two days, out of 108 speeches the word Iraq was only mentioned 13 times. You don't hear Iraq.

(LAUGHTER)

COOPER: You don't hear the word gay. You don't hear abortion.

JENNINGS: That's true.

COOPER: It's not like conventions past.

JENNINGS: Well it's not like Democratic parties past and it's not even really like the Democratic Party itself. I think it's quite interesting how this party, which I think revels to some extent in its differences has managed to stay on message.

COOPER: You just got back from Iraq. Does it -- having been there does it change the way you look at this, the way you look at this process at all? I mean does it -- for me it actually kind of made me -- I think it is easy to be cynical about this process, easy to be cynical about what's happening here...

JENNINGS: Oh I bet it made you feel romantic about it...

COOPER: It did in a way, yes...

JENNINGS: Yes, you see you and I have similar experiences. We've all been -- we've both been in many, many parts of the world where power is exchanged from a barrel of a gun. Some guy brings up his tank and the government changes. That still happens in many parts of the world. In the time I served overseas it happened all the time. So I think when you come home and participate in the Democratic process, even vicariously as journalists do, I think it is extraordinarily moving.

COOPER: Do -- the networks -- broadcast networks, you guys have gotten a bad rap lately. I mean you know you're broadcasting three hours of coverage...

JENNINGS: Yes, it's not enough...

COOPER: ... all this week, though you're doing this digital television, which I want to talk about in a moment...

JENNINGS: It's not enough.

COOPER: It's not enough?

JENNINGS: No, of course not. When Barack Obama was on the television the other night...

COOPER: It wasn't carried live by the networks...

JENNINGS: I know. Our network, I'm sorry to say, was in a rerun of a program that I don't know which one it was, but...

COOPER: Does it embarrass you?

JENNINGS: No, it actually make me a little angry and that's why on the other hand, because life is all about on the other hand, that's why I'm really glad that ABC gave us all this time to do it on digital cable.

COOPER: So how does that work? I mean where are you being seen on digital cable and how much are you doing there?

JENNINGS: We are -- first of all, we're doing gavel-to-gavel, see it that way. We start when they start. We actually start before they start. We start an hour before they start and we go to the end of them. But as interesting for us, and it's a real pioneering experience we're doing it gavel-to-gavel on the Internet through all of the providers, most notably Comcast and AOL, Yahoo!, real networks and things like that...

COOPER: You've got a lot of viewers on that...

(CROSSTALK)

JENNINGS: I must tell you I thought I might be talking to eight people and a goat to be perfectly honest...

COOPER: Eight people and a goat...

JENNINGS: I really wasn't sure. Well you never know on the Internet.

(LAUGHTER)

JENNINGS: But it turned out that our first night's coverage was the largest experience AOL had ever had in its history and the second night there were more.

COOPER: What are you going to be listening for tonight in John Kerry's speech?

JENNINGS: Well I'll tell you what I'm going to tell the audience in advance. Don't listen to us too much in the media about whether we set the bar too high or too low after all, because there isn't an awful lot of news here. This is what we're all talking about today. He's got to do this. He's got to do that.

If he doesn't do this he'll -- listen, he may talk too long at 55 minutes for my taste. But he's a lot of constituents he's to satisfy. And John Kerry is not a bad speechmaker. He may not be as good as John Edwards. He may not be as good as some of the red meat speakers they've had here earlier in the week, a certain speaker we know was supposed to speak for six minutes and he took 20 the other night. This convention loved it.

It's clearly an important speech. I don't think he thinks it's the most important speech of his life.

COOPER: Really?

JENNINGS: I think he believes that testimony to the Senate as a member of the anti-war movement. As a veteran I think he still thinks that was the most important speech of his life so far.

COOPER: Peter Jennings...

JENNINGS: It's great to see you.

COOPER: It's good to see you.

JENNINGS: We miss you.

COOPER: And I understand it's your birthday. Happy birthday.

JENNINGS: Yes, I'm old.

COOPER: I didn't say the age. Happy birthday...

JENNINGS: Nice to see you. Thanks.

COOPER: See you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Peter Jennings, legendary. He is the one person that's getting all the attention here. Not Peter Jennings, I'm talking about Michael Moore. Next on 360(, lights, camera, Michael Moore. Is it time for less? That's next.

But first today's "Buzz". What do you think? Tonight, John Kerry must convince viewers he will put the nation on the right track, is strong on defense, and that he represents mainstream values. A lot of excitement building here tonight on this convention floor.

Log on to cnn.com/360. Cast your vote, get in on it. Results when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC/"AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL")

(APPLAUSE)

COOPER: In a week of many remarkable moments, another remarkable moment here tonight. Mavis Staples singing "America The Beautiful". The crowd on their feet. The atmosphere electric.

We're going to be having a lot of coverage over the next several hours. Of course, John Kerry is speaking tonight. Joe Biden now taking to the podium -- one of the many speakers here who will be talking about John Kerry the man, his record, his military record, and what they say he will do for this country.

Tonight we take the idea of unity to "The Nth Degree". Now that this is all almost over, we're wondering what America's famous cowboy pundit, Will Rogers, would have felt about the last few days here in Boston. He's the guy that once said I'm the member of no organized political party. I'm a Democrat. The rope twirling country boy from Oklahoma would be pretty surprised by how his party has changed. Seems to us at least disorganized, contentious, divided. Hardly, things have gone like clockwork this week.

Disagreements, separate camps, clashes of opinion, no, no, and no. It's all been more like the old song Rogers himself might have sung, "Seldom was heard, a discouraging word and the skies and the speeches weren't cloudy all day." Would Will Rogers have liked the Democrats new unity? Hard to say. There was, truth to tell, something proud, something boastful almost in that wisecrack about his not being an organized party. But times have changed. Being sleek and well groomed aren't as suspicious as they used to be back in Will Rogers' day.

CNN's live coverage continues of this remarkable event all evening long, heading up to John King -- John Kerry speaking live around 10:30 p.m. Wolf Blitzer, Judy Woodruff will be here live covering this. Let's go back to the podium.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This struggle reached our shores on September 11, 2001, and delivered this generation of Americans to this moment of awesome destiny. After 9/11, I believed and I still do that if we exercise the full measure of our power, including our ideas as well as our ideals, we could unite not only this nation...

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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