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CNN Live Today

Reagan's Remains to Travel Presidential Library in Simi Valley

Aired June 07, 2004 - 10:00   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.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get started at CNN headquarters in Atlanta. I'm Daryn Kagan.
Smoke rising from a fire at a Kufa, Iraq mosque. U.S. military officials blame an explosion there on a cache of ammunition kept for the Mehdi army. And Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has announced a deal to disband nine militias. Most members would join Iraqi security forces or return to civilian life. The deal excludes the Mehdi army.

A classified Pentagon report concluded that President Bush has the authority to approve torture in the interrogation of prisoners. The story appears in today's "Wall Street Journal." The report was completed last year after U.S. officials complained they weren't getting enough information from Guantanamo Bay detainees. The report contends that national security takes precedence over treaties banning torture. It's not known if the president ever saw that report.

U.S. officials hope to bring up a Security Council resolution vote as early as tomorrow, on the transfer of power in Iraq. A fourth draft of the U.S.-British proposal may be introduced later today.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon faces several no-confidence votes in parliament today. The action follows the cabinet's approval in principle of the Sharon plan for a withdrawal from Gaza. A vote on the removal of Israeli settlements there isn't scheduled until March.

This is what we are watching live this hour. Fortifying an island in an unlikely crossroads of world leaders. President Bush is already at Georgia's Sea Island. He will host this week's Group of 8 Economic Summit.

We begin with Ronald Reagan. He grew up in the heartland. He gained fame in Hollywood, and he achieved a measure of political immortality in Washington. Now his journey in death will again carry him from coast to coast.

Our Ted Rowlands begins in Santa Monica, California. That is where admirers are gathering this morning.

Good morning, Ted.

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn. In about three hours from now, President Reagan's remains will travel by motorcade to the family -- or to the presidential library in Simi Valley. And already this morning, those are members of the team that will carry -- take the president by motorcade, have assembled in the back parking lot of the mortuary. The California highway patrol will be working with the Secret Service to accomplish that. It is a well- choreographed week ahead here that will start at the Santa Monica mortuary in about three hours.

Meanwhile overnight, more people came out here to the mortuary to pay their respects to President Reagan; dropping off more flowers, and more cards and balloons, well wishes to the Reagan family. It is expected that many of the people that have come out here will also be traveling up to the library to take part in the visitation process afforded to the public by the family. It was very important for the family to allow people in California and Washington, D.C. to have a chance to come and mourn President Reagan personally. And it is expected that thousands will do so over the next two days -- Daryn.

KAGAN: All right, Ted, we're going to go ahead and move north. As Californians -- all right. Right now actually, we're going to go live. Condi Rice, national security adviser, she's speaking in Savannah, Georgia.

(INTERRUPTED BY LIVE EVENT)

KAGAN: We've been listening in to Condoleezza Rice, the national secretary adviser. If you don't recognize the background, she is in Savannah, Georgia, ready to go to Sea Island, Georgia; the Group of Eight, the G-8 Summit about to take place there. President Bush hosting a number of leaders from countries all around the world, looking at issues from Iraq to the Middle East.

A big issue for just holding this summit there is security. Over 10,000 law enforcement officials there for this tiny island, just to try to keep the leaders safe.

With more on that and more of what we can expect from the G-8, let's bring in our Jeanne Meserve -- Jeanne.

JEANNE MESERVE, HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, with so many world leaders gathering here, security is extraordinarily tight, with Humvees rolling down the streets of coastal towns and anti- aircraft missiles pointed at the sky.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE (voice-over): Georgia's golden isles renown for their tranquility are about to lose it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's obviously very important venue when you have the leaders of the eight economic powers coming to the United States. We want to make sure security is at a top level.

MESERVE: Police here will be on the lookout for individuals the FBI wants to question in connection with terrorism. But terrorism is just one concern. Massive, sometimes violent demonstrations have sometimes greeted the G-8. In Italy three years ago, one protester was killed. Since then, organizers have favored remote locations. Sea Island, for instance, is more than 70 miles from Savannah, the nearest large city in Georgia. Close to the conference site is some local officials are looking at the bright side.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's the kind of advertising you could not buy.

MESERVE: But the intense security has some residents fed up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Closed down the streets, bringing in the Patriot missiles. What! Going to do a conference call.

MESERVE: The Secret Service is coordinating dozens of federal, state and local agencies for this sprawling national special security event. Flight restrictions are imposed in a 30-mile ring around Savannah and a 40-mile ring around St. Simons Island. Some local airports are being shut to general aviation. Military radars will detect intruders; combat air patrols will police the skies.

The single causeway leading to Sea Island will be closed to everyone but residents and meeting participants. And recreational boating will be banned in a 120-square-mile security zone near Sea Island. Commercial traffic will be restricted.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE: As for protesters, they've been scarce. But it's still early. President Bush, the only one of the world leaders currently on the ground here.

Daryn, back to you.

KAGAN: And Jeanne, when and if they do show up, aren't they going to be kept away from a place far away from where the world leaders might even see them?

MESERVE: That's right. The world leaders are going to be down on Sea Island. Access to that island severely restricted only to participants and to residents of the island. Protesters will be kept in nearby Brunswick and here in Savannah. Lots of roadblocks up, lots of cement barricades. And as I mentioned, a lot of security forces already in place to deal with them, should massive protests materialize here.

KAGAN: As our Homeland Security correspondent, you have seen much of this. But probably unlike anything even you have seen. Jeanne, thank you for that.

MESERVE: You bet.

KAGAN: Want to go from that coast back to the West Coast. We interrupted our coverage on President Reagan. And we were mentioning at the top of the show, his body currently at a mortuary in Santa Monica. It will be moving north to Simi Valley, where his presidential library is. That is where Californians will be able to pay their respects to President Reagan.

And that's where we find our David Mattingly this morning to tell us more about that. David, good morning.

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn. Five days of national mourning will soon be underway in just under three hours now. That procession you mentioned will be leaving the funeral home in Santa Monica, headed here to the president -- the Ronald Reagan Presidential Museum in Simi Valley.

There will be a brief ceremony here first for the family. That will be private here at the library. And when they arrive, this is what they are going to see: a large collection of flags, and well wishes, and flowers at the entrance way to the museum. They're left by people here. Over hours and hours of work going on that has been going on yesterday. People offering their condolences. The library was actually closed to the public today. This was as close as people could get. But that is all about to change today.

Inside, the president's coffin will be placed in the main rotunda of the library here. And at noon today Pacific Time, the public will be allowed to file past the president's closed casket here. The public will be brought up in buses, shuttled up here from a nearby college campus. They will be able to go in and offer their respects. And then they'll be shuttled back down to where they were parked. Now, this will go on through the night and into tomorrow evening. At that time the president's casket will be taken to Washington, D.C., where it will lie in state at the nation's capital for similar public ceremonies, and for funeral services at the National Cathedral.

And then it will be brought back one final cross-country trip for the president's casket. It will come back here on Friday for private burial ceremonies with the family here at the presidential library. This is where the family decided -- Mr. and Mrs. Reagan decided that they wanted to have their final resting place. They made that decision as this library was being built more than 10 years ago. It is just a beautiful place surrounded by hills, reminiscent of a classic cowboy movie. The site of where the president will be buried, actually overlooking at one point the Pacific Ocean.

So, a beautiful place for generations to come and visit, and learn about the extraordinary life of our 40-president -- Daryn.

KAGAN: And not just the burial plans, but as I understand it, all the plans for the funeral were made many, many years ago, with President Reagan's wishes being taken into account.

MATTINGLY: They were made as -- when the president was actually president at the time. So these plans have been in the works of being revised for years and years now. But the actual burial site was selected as the site for the library was selected. The actual site has a monument there. We don't know what is going to be written on the monument. That will be revealed on Friday. The site is shaded in oak trees and again, just a beautiful scene up here. Very serene. Beautiful, beautiful scenes of the Pacific Ocean and the California hillside -- Daryn.

KAGAN: David Mattingly in an overcast, somewhat gloomy Simi Valley this morning in Southern California. Thank you for that.

CNN will continue its extensive coverage of Ronald Reagan. This afternoon, our Judy Woodruff and Anderson Cooper host a special CNN report "Remember Ronald Reagan." That gets under way at 2:00 Eastern, 11:00 a.m. on the West Coast.

CNN LIVE TODAY returns in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Here to share some of his own memories of the former president -- of President Reagan is former CNN Washington bureau chief and White House correspondent Frank Sesno.

Frank, good morning. Thanks for being with us.

FRANK SESNO, FRM. CNN WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF: Good morning, Daryn. How are you?

KAGAN: Always good to have an old friend here with us.

Now, in addition to being our Washington bureau chief for so many years, you also since you have left CNN, have gone on to do a documentary on President Reagan. And you're going to share with us an aspect of the president we haven't heard in a lot of places. And that is the president as a spiritual man.

SESNO: It was really quite remarkable, as you spent a lot of time studying this guy. There's a real interesting disconnect. He was the most incredibly public figure, radio, acting, politics all his life, but also very private. And one of the private components of his life was his spirituality. He had a very personal relationship with God. He talked about God with his friends after his assassination attempt, for example. And he said God spared me for a reason. He spoke with his minister about that. He spoke with people around him.

At one point, in the hospital actually, he penned a letter to the Soviet Leonid Brezhnev. Now, this was in the early days of the presidency. He was -- the assassination attempt, as you recall, was in March of 1981, shortly after he had taken office. And he hadn't had any relationship with Brezhnev and the Soviets. In fact, he had something of a hawkish tint to him in the public perception. So he writes this letter to Brezhnev in which he talks about wanting to do business and have peace and all the rest.

This is a story that Michael Deaver and others tell. That letter was then shopped around to the National Security Council, and the State Department. And a lot of Sovietologists said oh, tsk, tsk. You're taking some chances and being fast and loose here. And they wanted him to edit it. And in the end, Reagan decided he was going to send it because he said, God had spared him for a reason. And one of those reasons he felt was to reach out to the Soviets. Even as he was building up defenses.

KAGAN: Now, I want to go to the complete opposite side of spirituality. And that's politics, the opposite end of the spectrum there, and talk about -- people talking about how President Reagan's death might affect the campaign right now. And you see a close alliance, almost a kinship of this President Bush with President Reagan. But also some questions as to whether that would be a good thing for this President Bush, to compare himself to Ronald Reagan.

SESNO: Well, whether he wants to compare himself and whether it's a good thing or not, he does. Actually, I've spoken with him about this. And he makes a very direct connection with Ronald Reagan's leadership. He says Ronald Reagan's leadership was visionary. It was clear. And he took chances. He didn't worry about polls. He got out there and the people followed.

The example this President Bush cites is the -- is President Reagan's position with respect to communism. And staring down communism, and changing the way the communist world operated. This president sees his mission in the Middle East, in trying to bridge democracy there, is sort of an extension of that. Clear leadership, from the gut leadership, you know. Both of these guys have ranches. They're both governors. There are remarkable parallels. I don't think you're going to see President George W. Bush bragging about that. That would be too far out there, especially now. But it's very much a part of his life and his politics.

KAGAN: And speaking of the president, I also want to talk about Senator John Kerry. He has pretty much canceled everything for the next five days out of respect. But also in honesty realizing he wouldn't get any coverage even if he was out there. But the timing of this, it's still a long time between now and November. So do you think this will impact his candidacy?

SESNO: Oh, John Kerry has got plenty of time. And we've been through this, you know, every time in the past. The news cycles work against the challenger. The news cycles works against someone trying to break into the news. The American people tend to tune in first during those great big, balloon-filled infomercials, called conventions in the summer. Those are still to come.

And then in the fall, look, remember, we're talking about Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan didn't really seal the deal with the American people until the debates with Jimmy Carter; literally days before the election, when he reassured people that he wasn't some Grade B actor who was just reading from cue cards. But you know, there you go again. Are you better off now than you were four years ago. Reassured the American people. And like I said, sealed the deal.

KAGAN: And using one of his great political strengths, that is having people underestimate him. Frank, thank you so much...

SESNO: Like that.

KAGAN: Yes. Good to see you.

SESNO: You bet.

KAGAN: Frank Sesno from our Washington bureau.

SESNO: Likewise.

KAGAN: Wildfires are burning dangerously close to the Reagan family ranch in Santa Barbara. An update on the situation, as firefighters battle that blaze. The story and your forecast coming up.

(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 June 7, 2004 - 10:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get started at CNN headquarters in Atlanta. I'm Daryn Kagan.
Smoke rising from a fire at a Kufa, Iraq mosque. U.S. military officials blame an explosion there on a cache of ammunition kept for the Mehdi army. And Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has announced a deal to disband nine militias. Most members would join Iraqi security forces or return to civilian life. The deal excludes the Mehdi army.

A classified Pentagon report concluded that President Bush has the authority to approve torture in the interrogation of prisoners. The story appears in today's "Wall Street Journal." The report was completed last year after U.S. officials complained they weren't getting enough information from Guantanamo Bay detainees. The report contends that national security takes precedence over treaties banning torture. It's not known if the president ever saw that report.

U.S. officials hope to bring up a Security Council resolution vote as early as tomorrow, on the transfer of power in Iraq. A fourth draft of the U.S.-British proposal may be introduced later today.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon faces several no-confidence votes in parliament today. The action follows the cabinet's approval in principle of the Sharon plan for a withdrawal from Gaza. A vote on the removal of Israeli settlements there isn't scheduled until March.

This is what we are watching live this hour. Fortifying an island in an unlikely crossroads of world leaders. President Bush is already at Georgia's Sea Island. He will host this week's Group of 8 Economic Summit.

We begin with Ronald Reagan. He grew up in the heartland. He gained fame in Hollywood, and he achieved a measure of political immortality in Washington. Now his journey in death will again carry him from coast to coast.

Our Ted Rowlands begins in Santa Monica, California. That is where admirers are gathering this morning.

Good morning, Ted.

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn. In about three hours from now, President Reagan's remains will travel by motorcade to the family -- or to the presidential library in Simi Valley. And already this morning, those are members of the team that will carry -- take the president by motorcade, have assembled in the back parking lot of the mortuary. The California highway patrol will be working with the Secret Service to accomplish that. It is a well- choreographed week ahead here that will start at the Santa Monica mortuary in about three hours.

Meanwhile overnight, more people came out here to the mortuary to pay their respects to President Reagan; dropping off more flowers, and more cards and balloons, well wishes to the Reagan family. It is expected that many of the people that have come out here will also be traveling up to the library to take part in the visitation process afforded to the public by the family. It was very important for the family to allow people in California and Washington, D.C. to have a chance to come and mourn President Reagan personally. And it is expected that thousands will do so over the next two days -- Daryn.

KAGAN: All right, Ted, we're going to go ahead and move north. As Californians -- all right. Right now actually, we're going to go live. Condi Rice, national security adviser, she's speaking in Savannah, Georgia.

(INTERRUPTED BY LIVE EVENT)

KAGAN: We've been listening in to Condoleezza Rice, the national secretary adviser. If you don't recognize the background, she is in Savannah, Georgia, ready to go to Sea Island, Georgia; the Group of Eight, the G-8 Summit about to take place there. President Bush hosting a number of leaders from countries all around the world, looking at issues from Iraq to the Middle East.

A big issue for just holding this summit there is security. Over 10,000 law enforcement officials there for this tiny island, just to try to keep the leaders safe.

With more on that and more of what we can expect from the G-8, let's bring in our Jeanne Meserve -- Jeanne.

JEANNE MESERVE, HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, with so many world leaders gathering here, security is extraordinarily tight, with Humvees rolling down the streets of coastal towns and anti- aircraft missiles pointed at the sky.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE (voice-over): Georgia's golden isles renown for their tranquility are about to lose it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's obviously very important venue when you have the leaders of the eight economic powers coming to the United States. We want to make sure security is at a top level.

MESERVE: Police here will be on the lookout for individuals the FBI wants to question in connection with terrorism. But terrorism is just one concern. Massive, sometimes violent demonstrations have sometimes greeted the G-8. In Italy three years ago, one protester was killed. Since then, organizers have favored remote locations. Sea Island, for instance, is more than 70 miles from Savannah, the nearest large city in Georgia. Close to the conference site is some local officials are looking at the bright side.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's the kind of advertising you could not buy.

MESERVE: But the intense security has some residents fed up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Closed down the streets, bringing in the Patriot missiles. What! Going to do a conference call.

MESERVE: The Secret Service is coordinating dozens of federal, state and local agencies for this sprawling national special security event. Flight restrictions are imposed in a 30-mile ring around Savannah and a 40-mile ring around St. Simons Island. Some local airports are being shut to general aviation. Military radars will detect intruders; combat air patrols will police the skies.

The single causeway leading to Sea Island will be closed to everyone but residents and meeting participants. And recreational boating will be banned in a 120-square-mile security zone near Sea Island. Commercial traffic will be restricted.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE: As for protesters, they've been scarce. But it's still early. President Bush, the only one of the world leaders currently on the ground here.

Daryn, back to you.

KAGAN: And Jeanne, when and if they do show up, aren't they going to be kept away from a place far away from where the world leaders might even see them?

MESERVE: That's right. The world leaders are going to be down on Sea Island. Access to that island severely restricted only to participants and to residents of the island. Protesters will be kept in nearby Brunswick and here in Savannah. Lots of roadblocks up, lots of cement barricades. And as I mentioned, a lot of security forces already in place to deal with them, should massive protests materialize here.

KAGAN: As our Homeland Security correspondent, you have seen much of this. But probably unlike anything even you have seen. Jeanne, thank you for that.

MESERVE: You bet.

KAGAN: Want to go from that coast back to the West Coast. We interrupted our coverage on President Reagan. And we were mentioning at the top of the show, his body currently at a mortuary in Santa Monica. It will be moving north to Simi Valley, where his presidential library is. That is where Californians will be able to pay their respects to President Reagan.

And that's where we find our David Mattingly this morning to tell us more about that. David, good morning.

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn. Five days of national mourning will soon be underway in just under three hours now. That procession you mentioned will be leaving the funeral home in Santa Monica, headed here to the president -- the Ronald Reagan Presidential Museum in Simi Valley.

There will be a brief ceremony here first for the family. That will be private here at the library. And when they arrive, this is what they are going to see: a large collection of flags, and well wishes, and flowers at the entrance way to the museum. They're left by people here. Over hours and hours of work going on that has been going on yesterday. People offering their condolences. The library was actually closed to the public today. This was as close as people could get. But that is all about to change today.

Inside, the president's coffin will be placed in the main rotunda of the library here. And at noon today Pacific Time, the public will be allowed to file past the president's closed casket here. The public will be brought up in buses, shuttled up here from a nearby college campus. They will be able to go in and offer their respects. And then they'll be shuttled back down to where they were parked. Now, this will go on through the night and into tomorrow evening. At that time the president's casket will be taken to Washington, D.C., where it will lie in state at the nation's capital for similar public ceremonies, and for funeral services at the National Cathedral.

And then it will be brought back one final cross-country trip for the president's casket. It will come back here on Friday for private burial ceremonies with the family here at the presidential library. This is where the family decided -- Mr. and Mrs. Reagan decided that they wanted to have their final resting place. They made that decision as this library was being built more than 10 years ago. It is just a beautiful place surrounded by hills, reminiscent of a classic cowboy movie. The site of where the president will be buried, actually overlooking at one point the Pacific Ocean.

So, a beautiful place for generations to come and visit, and learn about the extraordinary life of our 40-president -- Daryn.

KAGAN: And not just the burial plans, but as I understand it, all the plans for the funeral were made many, many years ago, with President Reagan's wishes being taken into account.

MATTINGLY: They were made as -- when the president was actually president at the time. So these plans have been in the works of being revised for years and years now. But the actual burial site was selected as the site for the library was selected. The actual site has a monument there. We don't know what is going to be written on the monument. That will be revealed on Friday. The site is shaded in oak trees and again, just a beautiful scene up here. Very serene. Beautiful, beautiful scenes of the Pacific Ocean and the California hillside -- Daryn.

KAGAN: David Mattingly in an overcast, somewhat gloomy Simi Valley this morning in Southern California. Thank you for that.

CNN will continue its extensive coverage of Ronald Reagan. This afternoon, our Judy Woodruff and Anderson Cooper host a special CNN report "Remember Ronald Reagan." That gets under way at 2:00 Eastern, 11:00 a.m. on the West Coast.

CNN LIVE TODAY returns in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Here to share some of his own memories of the former president -- of President Reagan is former CNN Washington bureau chief and White House correspondent Frank Sesno.

Frank, good morning. Thanks for being with us.

FRANK SESNO, FRM. CNN WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF: Good morning, Daryn. How are you?

KAGAN: Always good to have an old friend here with us.

Now, in addition to being our Washington bureau chief for so many years, you also since you have left CNN, have gone on to do a documentary on President Reagan. And you're going to share with us an aspect of the president we haven't heard in a lot of places. And that is the president as a spiritual man.

SESNO: It was really quite remarkable, as you spent a lot of time studying this guy. There's a real interesting disconnect. He was the most incredibly public figure, radio, acting, politics all his life, but also very private. And one of the private components of his life was his spirituality. He had a very personal relationship with God. He talked about God with his friends after his assassination attempt, for example. And he said God spared me for a reason. He spoke with his minister about that. He spoke with people around him.

At one point, in the hospital actually, he penned a letter to the Soviet Leonid Brezhnev. Now, this was in the early days of the presidency. He was -- the assassination attempt, as you recall, was in March of 1981, shortly after he had taken office. And he hadn't had any relationship with Brezhnev and the Soviets. In fact, he had something of a hawkish tint to him in the public perception. So he writes this letter to Brezhnev in which he talks about wanting to do business and have peace and all the rest.

This is a story that Michael Deaver and others tell. That letter was then shopped around to the National Security Council, and the State Department. And a lot of Sovietologists said oh, tsk, tsk. You're taking some chances and being fast and loose here. And they wanted him to edit it. And in the end, Reagan decided he was going to send it because he said, God had spared him for a reason. And one of those reasons he felt was to reach out to the Soviets. Even as he was building up defenses.

KAGAN: Now, I want to go to the complete opposite side of spirituality. And that's politics, the opposite end of the spectrum there, and talk about -- people talking about how President Reagan's death might affect the campaign right now. And you see a close alliance, almost a kinship of this President Bush with President Reagan. But also some questions as to whether that would be a good thing for this President Bush, to compare himself to Ronald Reagan.

SESNO: Well, whether he wants to compare himself and whether it's a good thing or not, he does. Actually, I've spoken with him about this. And he makes a very direct connection with Ronald Reagan's leadership. He says Ronald Reagan's leadership was visionary. It was clear. And he took chances. He didn't worry about polls. He got out there and the people followed.

The example this President Bush cites is the -- is President Reagan's position with respect to communism. And staring down communism, and changing the way the communist world operated. This president sees his mission in the Middle East, in trying to bridge democracy there, is sort of an extension of that. Clear leadership, from the gut leadership, you know. Both of these guys have ranches. They're both governors. There are remarkable parallels. I don't think you're going to see President George W. Bush bragging about that. That would be too far out there, especially now. But it's very much a part of his life and his politics.

KAGAN: And speaking of the president, I also want to talk about Senator John Kerry. He has pretty much canceled everything for the next five days out of respect. But also in honesty realizing he wouldn't get any coverage even if he was out there. But the timing of this, it's still a long time between now and November. So do you think this will impact his candidacy?

SESNO: Oh, John Kerry has got plenty of time. And we've been through this, you know, every time in the past. The news cycles work against the challenger. The news cycles works against someone trying to break into the news. The American people tend to tune in first during those great big, balloon-filled infomercials, called conventions in the summer. Those are still to come.

And then in the fall, look, remember, we're talking about Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan didn't really seal the deal with the American people until the debates with Jimmy Carter; literally days before the election, when he reassured people that he wasn't some Grade B actor who was just reading from cue cards. But you know, there you go again. Are you better off now than you were four years ago. Reassured the American people. And like I said, sealed the deal.

KAGAN: And using one of his great political strengths, that is having people underestimate him. Frank, thank you so much...

SESNO: Like that.

KAGAN: Yes. Good to see you.

SESNO: You bet.

KAGAN: Frank Sesno from our Washington bureau.

SESNO: Likewise.

KAGAN: Wildfires are burning dangerously close to the Reagan family ranch in Santa Barbara. An update on the situation, as firefighters battle that blaze. The story and your forecast coming up.

(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