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CNN Live Today

Democrats Prepare To Launch National Convention

Aired July 26, 2004 - 11:00   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: We are looking straight up at 11:00 a.m. on the East Coast.
Good morning to those of you on the West Coast and the Midwest. It's 8 a.m. in California.

From CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Daryn Kagan.

Up first on CNN, this live picture from Boston where politicians, pundits, delegates, and demonstrators converge on that city as the Democrats kick off their convention. Boston's FleetCenter is the scene for the four-day convention culminating with John Kerry's presidential nomination later this week.

Senator Kerry's road to the convention takes him to several states. He is starting the morning in Florida. We'll be going live there in a moment. From there he goes to Norfolk, Virginia and Philadelphia before arriving in Boston on Wednesday.

Senator Kerry actually made a surprise visit to Boston, or perhaps should not. He threw out the opening pitch at last night's Red Sox-Yankees game before pitching for votes in his acceptance speech on Thursday.

Security is tight. The Democrats though promise the mood will be upbeat during the convention. We begin our coverage this hour with CNN national correspondent Bob Franken joining us from Boston with a convention preview.

Bob, good morning.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.

Perhaps while in Florida he can go to one of the spring training camps and work on his pitching a little bit or, perhaps, be continuing to work on his speech.

Hopefully, for him, the pitch, the baseball pitch will be forgotten by the end of the week and people will be remembering his campaign pitch after his speech on Thursday night.

The convention is about to begin.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRANKEN (voice-over): One thing for sure, there was plenty of police protection against serious troubles as demonstrators made their statements. The streets belong to the security forces who have thrown up new iron fences and check points, sometimes every few feet. All the widely publicized blockades are slamming into place.

But now, the spotlight shifts inside. The Democratic delegates will fill the floor and corridors of the FleetCenter. The man who used to be the star of these shows, former president Bill Clinton, will appear in a supporting role as one of the opening night speakers, several days away where he won't overshadow the new leading man, John Kerry.

BILL CLINTON, 42ND PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The American people now have a choice. They can -- we tried their way for 12 years, our way for eight years, and they had four more years. Our way works better.

FRANKEN: The firefighters union cooperated by settling its contract dispute with the city at the last minute, calling off embarrassing pre-convention picture lines.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FRANKEN: And Security, how shall we say it, Daryn? It's a pain in the neck. But security officials say that means that they're doing a thorough job -- Daryn?

KAGAN: All right. Bob Franken securely in Boston. Bob, thank you for that.

Convention Chairman Bill Richardson says that Democrats won't be bashing President Bush at every turn. Instead, he says they're actually going to try accentuate the positive and talk about issues.

Richardson was a guest on CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. BILL RICHARDSON (D), CONVENTION CHAIRMAN: We're exactly where we want to be. A challenger has never been so far ahead in an election than Senator Kerry is now. He's ahead by about two points. But usually challengers with incumbent presidents are behind about 16 points at this stage.

So what we want to do is send a message that the Democrats and Senator Kerry are positive, that we're going to talk about what we're going to do on the economy, on healthcare, on foreign policy, on national security and not make this into a big bashing of the president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Senator Ted Kennedy, by the way, says that John Kerry's acceptance speech will be in keeping with the convention's positive message. He says that will take place on Thursday night.

Much more convention coverage just ahead. Meanwhile, about 5,000 delegates and alternates are in Boston for the convention. They are outnumbered, get this, three to one by members of the media.

CNN is right in the thick of things. We have a lot of people there. We are right on the convention floor. Let's bring in our Wolf Blitzer to walk us through the CNN setup where we are bringing you our live coverage.

Here's Wolf.

WOLF BLITZER, HOST, "WOLF BLITZER REPORTS": This is the first time that we're anchoring our special convention coverage from down here on the convention floor. Normally we're upstairs, up in those sky boxes.

Let me take you for a little tour to show you where we are. There's Judy and Jeff. They're sitting here on our platform. But if you walk down, we're right down -- we just walk a nice size step and we're here on the convention floor.

We can walk around and see what's going on, on get a sense, with this new technology, of the flavor. As I'm walking toward the podium over there, get a little sense of Washington state, Ohio. These are the delegations where so much is going to be happening over the course of this convention.

Normally, as I said, we'd be up there in those hermetically sealed, sound proof sky boxes where you have a beautiful view, but you really don't get the flavor, the excitement, the passion of what's going to be happening.

You can only imagine Thursday night when those balloons start crashing down on all of us what we're going to feel like, especially those of us sitting here on the convention floor. It will give our viewers a sense, something they don't normally see at any time.

KAGAN: CNN does have your complete convention coverage in prime time. Former president Bill Clinton gives tonight's keynote speech at 10:00 Eastern.

A special edition of "NEWSNIGHT WITH AARON BROWN" follows at 11:00. "LARRY KING" wraps up CNN prime time coverage live from the FleetCenter at midnight.

Let's go ahead and check the headlines out of Iraq this morning inside of our situation report.

Assassins killed Iraq's chief of tribal affairs, today. The minister was shot dead in his home -- near his home -- in a drive-by shooting. Two bodyguards also died in that attack.

Kidnappers holding seven truck drivers hostage in Iraq extended their deadline today. The kidnappers want the driver's employer, a Kuwaiti trucking company to stop work in Iraq immediately. If not, they say they will kill their hostages. And a previously unknown group today claims it has taken two Pakistanis and one Iraqi hostage. Kidnappers say the men worked for a Kuwaiti company. They are threatening to kill the hostages if Pakistan sends forces to Iraq.

Concern over a new terrorist attack is prompting American intelligence agents to redouble efforts to find al Qaeda operatives.

Our Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr has the latest on that. Barbara, good morning.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Daryn.

Well indeed, with all of the concern about the possible threat of an upcoming terrorist attack, the intelligence community is working very hard right now to corroborate the tips that is it has, whether those are tips from informants or clues in advance satellite imagery. And, once again, the target is that border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STARR (voice-over): In the hunt for Osama bin Laden, the U.S. intelligence community now is using leading-edge technology that sorts through satellite imagery to find patterns unseen by the eye. It's called change detection. Here is how it works.

Satellites are scanning western Pakistan near the Afghan border looking for, perhaps, a newly paved road, cars at a mountain camp, initial tips -- not that bin laden is there, but clues that al Qaeda may be gathering to plot. It's a trail of bread crumbs that bin Laden and his associates might leave behind.

Change detection looks at how these clues in satellite images evolve. High speed computers convert imagery into a bar graph that charts the pixels. Dots of pure black to pure white and all of the grays.

Analysts then look for change. For example, a sudden increase in the range of gray tones that result when the gravel is laid for a new road. They can also remove certain features of a landscape to enhance others and isolate subtle changes with mathematical precision.

Analysts will then go a step further, asking themselves, for example, if what they see is really a new road. Looking for very small developments like a satellite dish on top of a house. Would any of this tip off bin Laden's location or those who are hiding him.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STARR: Then if one of those tips does work out, Daryn, what the intelligence community will do is recommend an electronic fence line, if you will, aerial, ground sensors that would, basically, rope off an area, and they would keep constant watch for anyone trying to cross. That's how they would plan, perhaps, to either catch some al Qaeda suspects or maybe even if they really got lucky, some day bin Laden himself -- Daryn?

KAGAN: And what is the feeling there within the Pentagon just about the frustration level of not having caught Osama bin Laden at this late date?

STARR: Well, it's very interesting. What you hear, really, truly right now because of the chatter, because of the concern about the possibility of a terrorist attack prior to the presidential election, the real concern right now focuses on this al Qaeda activity that they believe they are seeing, that they have information, they say, from informants, from suspects that they have taken into custody, plus things in satellite imagery that are causing them to pause and take a second look.

If they were ever to get bin Laden, certainly, that would be a very lucky break for them. But right now, they are trying to concentrate on figuring out what the al Qaeda, in general, may be up to -- Daryn?

KAGAN: Barbara Starr, thank you very much, from the Pentagon.

Police say they may be just days away from an arrest. The question now, is it the husband of the missing woman who is at the top of their list of suspects. The latest from Utah ahead.

Also, keeping the party safe. We'll show you the high tech security in place around this week's convention.

Later, beware of the blogger. The new face of Internet journalism will be making itself known at the convention. We're taking a look when CNN'S LIVE TODAY continues

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARY SNOW, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Mary Snow at the New York Stock Exchange with a look at business news. Wall Street finally has details of Internet search engine's Google's initial public offering.

The company plans to sell 24.6 million shares, but it won't be cheap to get in on this highly anticipated stock offering. The price per share is expected to range from $108 to $135 a share.

The IPO could be worth up to $3.3 billion. Shares will list at the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol GOOG.

In today's trading, stocks are edging lower. The Dow right now down six points. It's riding a streak of five, straight weekly losses. The Nasdaq is down a quarter of one percent.

And that is the latest from Wall Street. LIVE TODAY is coming right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Let's go live now to Kennedy Space Center.

There is Senator John Kerry at a town hall meeting. Let's listen in.

(LIVE NEWS EVENT)

KAGAN: We've been listening to Senator John Kerry. He is at Kennedy Space Center today, participating in a town hall meeting.

This, of course, a warm-up to what is taking place in Boston. The Democratic national convention is getting under way this afternoon in Boston. We'll have much more coverage as Senator Kerry makes his way north.

Meanwhile, President Bush and the Republicans keeping kind of a low profile during the Democrats' party in Boston. But that doesn't mean that Republicans are just standing by the sidelines.

For instance, Vice President Dick Cheney will campaign in the West today. He speaks at a fundraising luncheon for the Republican candidate for governor in that state.

And Republicans will have a team in Boston to counter what they call John Kerry's extreme makeover.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICOLLE DEVENISH, COMM. DIRECTOR, BUSH-CHENEY '04: Something that you won't hear there in the FleetCenter is John Kerry talking too much about his record in the Senate.

He has a 19-year record that earned him the distinction of being the body's most out of the mainstream member. He's voted for higher taxes on everything from a gallon of gas to the family farm.

He has a vote that has caused him a lot of problems on the campaign trail, a vote against the troops on the frontlines in Afghanistan and Iraq. And, you know, really a career made up of votes that -- you know, we didn't designate him as the Senate's most out of the mainstream member. It's a record that earned him that distinction.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: The Republicans plan to provide real-time responses to Democrats speaking at the convention.

Well up next, on the road to Boston with always the intrepid Richard Quest. He can show things as we've never seen them before.

We're going to take a break. We'll be back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) KAGAN: If you think the American political process looks somewhat strange to those of us here at home, imagine what one of the queen's royal subjects is thinking.

CNN's quite British friend, Richard Quest, is on the outside looking in. He is tagging along with the Kerry campaign in Florida, this morning.

Richard, good morning. Welcome to America.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Now this was the problem, Daryn.

KAGAN: What was the problem?

QUEST: Well, you see, I'm glad you asked.

They said to me, go to Florida. Well, as every good European knows, I thought of Mickey and Universal and beaches. Instead, I'm standing at the Kennedy Space Center while John Kerry, less than 150 feet away from me, is outlining his healthcare plan to Floridians and getting his message out.

Nor had I really appreciated just how hot it was going to be. Where's my board shorts, my T-shirts. All this in the cause of the election -- Daryn.

KAGAN: All that. Now, here's the idea. We put you on this campaign trail. You're going to follow the Kerry campaign as it makes its way up to Boston?

QUEST: That's right. I'm going to be basically trying try to visit as many of the swing states as possible between now and the election and for a very good reason, because we have to understand, how is it that an electorate of 100 million people -- what it really comes down to is basically a few hundred thousand votes that will decide who gets to the White House.

And there is another question. You see, the Republicans, and what we're trying to explain is, the Republicans have been hardened in their views. It's George Bush, George Bush. He won fair and square.

Democrats, they are wanting to, what they see is right the wrongs of four years ago. And it will be anybody but Bush.

So what I'm trying to do is understand how this country is so polarized and how it's going to finally vote in November.

KAGAN: And how is that different from where you come from, Richard?

QUEST: Well, I think that probably there's not a huge amount of difference at the moment. Many countries are polarized. It is on the question of terrorism.

Governments from Spain, of course, Marie -- Jose Maria Aznar, Italy, Berlusconi, Tony Blair in Britain, Jacques Chirac in France, they have all either gained or lost because of whether they signed up to George Bush's coalition of the willing in Iraq.

And we're going to be finding out is just how that affects these two candidates, Bush and Kerry over the next six months and putting it into that international context.

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 26, 2004 - 11:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We are looking straight up at 11:00 a.m. on the East Coast.
Good morning to those of you on the West Coast and the Midwest. It's 8 a.m. in California.

From CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Daryn Kagan.

Up first on CNN, this live picture from Boston where politicians, pundits, delegates, and demonstrators converge on that city as the Democrats kick off their convention. Boston's FleetCenter is the scene for the four-day convention culminating with John Kerry's presidential nomination later this week.

Senator Kerry's road to the convention takes him to several states. He is starting the morning in Florida. We'll be going live there in a moment. From there he goes to Norfolk, Virginia and Philadelphia before arriving in Boston on Wednesday.

Senator Kerry actually made a surprise visit to Boston, or perhaps should not. He threw out the opening pitch at last night's Red Sox-Yankees game before pitching for votes in his acceptance speech on Thursday.

Security is tight. The Democrats though promise the mood will be upbeat during the convention. We begin our coverage this hour with CNN national correspondent Bob Franken joining us from Boston with a convention preview.

Bob, good morning.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.

Perhaps while in Florida he can go to one of the spring training camps and work on his pitching a little bit or, perhaps, be continuing to work on his speech.

Hopefully, for him, the pitch, the baseball pitch will be forgotten by the end of the week and people will be remembering his campaign pitch after his speech on Thursday night.

The convention is about to begin.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRANKEN (voice-over): One thing for sure, there was plenty of police protection against serious troubles as demonstrators made their statements. The streets belong to the security forces who have thrown up new iron fences and check points, sometimes every few feet. All the widely publicized blockades are slamming into place.

But now, the spotlight shifts inside. The Democratic delegates will fill the floor and corridors of the FleetCenter. The man who used to be the star of these shows, former president Bill Clinton, will appear in a supporting role as one of the opening night speakers, several days away where he won't overshadow the new leading man, John Kerry.

BILL CLINTON, 42ND PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The American people now have a choice. They can -- we tried their way for 12 years, our way for eight years, and they had four more years. Our way works better.

FRANKEN: The firefighters union cooperated by settling its contract dispute with the city at the last minute, calling off embarrassing pre-convention picture lines.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FRANKEN: And Security, how shall we say it, Daryn? It's a pain in the neck. But security officials say that means that they're doing a thorough job -- Daryn?

KAGAN: All right. Bob Franken securely in Boston. Bob, thank you for that.

Convention Chairman Bill Richardson says that Democrats won't be bashing President Bush at every turn. Instead, he says they're actually going to try accentuate the positive and talk about issues.

Richardson was a guest on CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. BILL RICHARDSON (D), CONVENTION CHAIRMAN: We're exactly where we want to be. A challenger has never been so far ahead in an election than Senator Kerry is now. He's ahead by about two points. But usually challengers with incumbent presidents are behind about 16 points at this stage.

So what we want to do is send a message that the Democrats and Senator Kerry are positive, that we're going to talk about what we're going to do on the economy, on healthcare, on foreign policy, on national security and not make this into a big bashing of the president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Senator Ted Kennedy, by the way, says that John Kerry's acceptance speech will be in keeping with the convention's positive message. He says that will take place on Thursday night.

Much more convention coverage just ahead. Meanwhile, about 5,000 delegates and alternates are in Boston for the convention. They are outnumbered, get this, three to one by members of the media.

CNN is right in the thick of things. We have a lot of people there. We are right on the convention floor. Let's bring in our Wolf Blitzer to walk us through the CNN setup where we are bringing you our live coverage.

Here's Wolf.

WOLF BLITZER, HOST, "WOLF BLITZER REPORTS": This is the first time that we're anchoring our special convention coverage from down here on the convention floor. Normally we're upstairs, up in those sky boxes.

Let me take you for a little tour to show you where we are. There's Judy and Jeff. They're sitting here on our platform. But if you walk down, we're right down -- we just walk a nice size step and we're here on the convention floor.

We can walk around and see what's going on, on get a sense, with this new technology, of the flavor. As I'm walking toward the podium over there, get a little sense of Washington state, Ohio. These are the delegations where so much is going to be happening over the course of this convention.

Normally, as I said, we'd be up there in those hermetically sealed, sound proof sky boxes where you have a beautiful view, but you really don't get the flavor, the excitement, the passion of what's going to be happening.

You can only imagine Thursday night when those balloons start crashing down on all of us what we're going to feel like, especially those of us sitting here on the convention floor. It will give our viewers a sense, something they don't normally see at any time.

KAGAN: CNN does have your complete convention coverage in prime time. Former president Bill Clinton gives tonight's keynote speech at 10:00 Eastern.

A special edition of "NEWSNIGHT WITH AARON BROWN" follows at 11:00. "LARRY KING" wraps up CNN prime time coverage live from the FleetCenter at midnight.

Let's go ahead and check the headlines out of Iraq this morning inside of our situation report.

Assassins killed Iraq's chief of tribal affairs, today. The minister was shot dead in his home -- near his home -- in a drive-by shooting. Two bodyguards also died in that attack.

Kidnappers holding seven truck drivers hostage in Iraq extended their deadline today. The kidnappers want the driver's employer, a Kuwaiti trucking company to stop work in Iraq immediately. If not, they say they will kill their hostages. And a previously unknown group today claims it has taken two Pakistanis and one Iraqi hostage. Kidnappers say the men worked for a Kuwaiti company. They are threatening to kill the hostages if Pakistan sends forces to Iraq.

Concern over a new terrorist attack is prompting American intelligence agents to redouble efforts to find al Qaeda operatives.

Our Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr has the latest on that. Barbara, good morning.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Daryn.

Well indeed, with all of the concern about the possible threat of an upcoming terrorist attack, the intelligence community is working very hard right now to corroborate the tips that is it has, whether those are tips from informants or clues in advance satellite imagery. And, once again, the target is that border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STARR (voice-over): In the hunt for Osama bin Laden, the U.S. intelligence community now is using leading-edge technology that sorts through satellite imagery to find patterns unseen by the eye. It's called change detection. Here is how it works.

Satellites are scanning western Pakistan near the Afghan border looking for, perhaps, a newly paved road, cars at a mountain camp, initial tips -- not that bin laden is there, but clues that al Qaeda may be gathering to plot. It's a trail of bread crumbs that bin Laden and his associates might leave behind.

Change detection looks at how these clues in satellite images evolve. High speed computers convert imagery into a bar graph that charts the pixels. Dots of pure black to pure white and all of the grays.

Analysts then look for change. For example, a sudden increase in the range of gray tones that result when the gravel is laid for a new road. They can also remove certain features of a landscape to enhance others and isolate subtle changes with mathematical precision.

Analysts will then go a step further, asking themselves, for example, if what they see is really a new road. Looking for very small developments like a satellite dish on top of a house. Would any of this tip off bin Laden's location or those who are hiding him.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STARR: Then if one of those tips does work out, Daryn, what the intelligence community will do is recommend an electronic fence line, if you will, aerial, ground sensors that would, basically, rope off an area, and they would keep constant watch for anyone trying to cross. That's how they would plan, perhaps, to either catch some al Qaeda suspects or maybe even if they really got lucky, some day bin Laden himself -- Daryn?

KAGAN: And what is the feeling there within the Pentagon just about the frustration level of not having caught Osama bin Laden at this late date?

STARR: Well, it's very interesting. What you hear, really, truly right now because of the chatter, because of the concern about the possibility of a terrorist attack prior to the presidential election, the real concern right now focuses on this al Qaeda activity that they believe they are seeing, that they have information, they say, from informants, from suspects that they have taken into custody, plus things in satellite imagery that are causing them to pause and take a second look.

If they were ever to get bin Laden, certainly, that would be a very lucky break for them. But right now, they are trying to concentrate on figuring out what the al Qaeda, in general, may be up to -- Daryn?

KAGAN: Barbara Starr, thank you very much, from the Pentagon.

Police say they may be just days away from an arrest. The question now, is it the husband of the missing woman who is at the top of their list of suspects. The latest from Utah ahead.

Also, keeping the party safe. We'll show you the high tech security in place around this week's convention.

Later, beware of the blogger. The new face of Internet journalism will be making itself known at the convention. We're taking a look when CNN'S LIVE TODAY continues

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARY SNOW, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Mary Snow at the New York Stock Exchange with a look at business news. Wall Street finally has details of Internet search engine's Google's initial public offering.

The company plans to sell 24.6 million shares, but it won't be cheap to get in on this highly anticipated stock offering. The price per share is expected to range from $108 to $135 a share.

The IPO could be worth up to $3.3 billion. Shares will list at the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol GOOG.

In today's trading, stocks are edging lower. The Dow right now down six points. It's riding a streak of five, straight weekly losses. The Nasdaq is down a quarter of one percent.

And that is the latest from Wall Street. LIVE TODAY is coming right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Let's go live now to Kennedy Space Center.

There is Senator John Kerry at a town hall meeting. Let's listen in.

(LIVE NEWS EVENT)

KAGAN: We've been listening to Senator John Kerry. He is at Kennedy Space Center today, participating in a town hall meeting.

This, of course, a warm-up to what is taking place in Boston. The Democratic national convention is getting under way this afternoon in Boston. We'll have much more coverage as Senator Kerry makes his way north.

Meanwhile, President Bush and the Republicans keeping kind of a low profile during the Democrats' party in Boston. But that doesn't mean that Republicans are just standing by the sidelines.

For instance, Vice President Dick Cheney will campaign in the West today. He speaks at a fundraising luncheon for the Republican candidate for governor in that state.

And Republicans will have a team in Boston to counter what they call John Kerry's extreme makeover.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICOLLE DEVENISH, COMM. DIRECTOR, BUSH-CHENEY '04: Something that you won't hear there in the FleetCenter is John Kerry talking too much about his record in the Senate.

He has a 19-year record that earned him the distinction of being the body's most out of the mainstream member. He's voted for higher taxes on everything from a gallon of gas to the family farm.

He has a vote that has caused him a lot of problems on the campaign trail, a vote against the troops on the frontlines in Afghanistan and Iraq. And, you know, really a career made up of votes that -- you know, we didn't designate him as the Senate's most out of the mainstream member. It's a record that earned him that distinction.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: The Republicans plan to provide real-time responses to Democrats speaking at the convention.

Well up next, on the road to Boston with always the intrepid Richard Quest. He can show things as we've never seen them before.

We're going to take a break. We'll be back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) KAGAN: If you think the American political process looks somewhat strange to those of us here at home, imagine what one of the queen's royal subjects is thinking.

CNN's quite British friend, Richard Quest, is on the outside looking in. He is tagging along with the Kerry campaign in Florida, this morning.

Richard, good morning. Welcome to America.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Now this was the problem, Daryn.

KAGAN: What was the problem?

QUEST: Well, you see, I'm glad you asked.

They said to me, go to Florida. Well, as every good European knows, I thought of Mickey and Universal and beaches. Instead, I'm standing at the Kennedy Space Center while John Kerry, less than 150 feet away from me, is outlining his healthcare plan to Floridians and getting his message out.

Nor had I really appreciated just how hot it was going to be. Where's my board shorts, my T-shirts. All this in the cause of the election -- Daryn.

KAGAN: All that. Now, here's the idea. We put you on this campaign trail. You're going to follow the Kerry campaign as it makes its way up to Boston?

QUEST: That's right. I'm going to be basically trying try to visit as many of the swing states as possible between now and the election and for a very good reason, because we have to understand, how is it that an electorate of 100 million people -- what it really comes down to is basically a few hundred thousand votes that will decide who gets to the White House.

And there is another question. You see, the Republicans, and what we're trying to explain is, the Republicans have been hardened in their views. It's George Bush, George Bush. He won fair and square.

Democrats, they are wanting to, what they see is right the wrongs of four years ago. And it will be anybody but Bush.

So what I'm trying to do is understand how this country is so polarized and how it's going to finally vote in November.

KAGAN: And how is that different from where you come from, Richard?

QUEST: Well, I think that probably there's not a huge amount of difference at the moment. Many countries are polarized. It is on the question of terrorism.

Governments from Spain, of course, Marie -- Jose Maria Aznar, Italy, Berlusconi, Tony Blair in Britain, Jacques Chirac in France, they have all either gained or lost because of whether they signed up to George Bush's coalition of the willing in Iraq.

And we're going to be finding out is just how that affects these two candidates, Bush and Kerry over the next six months and putting it into that international context.

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